Suchergebnisse

Issue 15.5 of the Review for Religious, 1956. ; Our New Business , ddress When we were preparing to publish the REVIEW, we arranged to have the College Press, in Topeka, do the printing and distribut-ing. For fifteen years the editors and the College Press have worked together in the closest h.armony. We have literally shared both heart'- 'aches and °joys. The heartaches were',mostly brought about by the difficulties of the war years: for example, as we published each num-ber we wondered how we would get enough paper for printing the next. The jo~,s consiste,d, am6ng other things, in getting the REVIEW out regularly and on time, despite the difficulties, and in the realiza-tion that this new apostolate for religious seemed to be appreciated. Please send all renewals and new subscriptions to REVIEW FOR REL~IGIOUS 3115 South Grand Boulevard St. Louis 18, Missouri This is our new business address During all these fifteen years, Mr. 3. W. O,rr, owner of the Col-lege Press, and his assistants, have given the REVIEW the best they had: and that was very good, indeed. But the time has come when we must make new publishing arrangements. The reason for this is purely an "act of God," as far as both the editors and the College Press are concerned. There has been no break in the harmony that has always characterized our collaboration. Fortunately for us, the publishing department of the Queen's Work has agreed to take over the publication of the REVIEW. Be-ginning with the next volume, the REVIEW will be printed and dis-tributed by the Queen's Work. Obviously, the new publishers can-not wait till the last deadline to begin making addresses and keeping records. For this reason, please note the announcement in the c~nter of this page and follow it exactly. The editors are deeply grateful to the College Press for past col-. laboration and to the Queen'~ Work for taking over the burden. 225 I=xclaus!:rat:ion and Seculariza!:ion Joseph F.°Gallen, S.J. I. EXCLAUSTRATION , 1. Definition. Aft indult of exclaustration is the permission to remain temporarily outside one's religious institute apart from obedi-ence, dependence, and vigilance of religious superiors either for a determined period of time or for the duration of the reason for which the indult was granted. The religious requests the indult and is not obliged to use it afterit has been granted. The petition is made throu~gh religious, superiors. Canon law does not demand the con-sent of superiors, but it is the practice of the Holy See to grant no indult to religious without having considered the opinion of superiors nor generally without their consent. It is difficult to obtain an in-dult of exclaustration from the Holy See when superiors are opposed. The Holy See d~cides whether the opposition of superiors is unreas-onable or unjust.1 The petition therefore should be accompanied by the opinion of the superior general, substantiated by pertinent reasons and facts, as to whether the indult should be granted. Local ordin-aries follow the same practice in granting indults of exclaustration to members of diocesan congregations. Exclaustration differs from a me/e absence outside any house of one's institute (c. 606, § 2), es-sentially because in a simple absence the religious remains subject to the obedience and vigilance of superiors. Authors commonly assert that the Holy See does not grant an in-dult of exclaustration to priests unless the petition'is accompanied by the attestation of a local ordinary that he will permit the priest to reside in his diocese during the exclaustration and at least to say Mass. ~ 2. Competent authority forexclaustration and secularization (c. 638). The competent authority is,the same for both exclaus-tration and secularization. In pontifical institutes~ whether orders or congregations', only the Holy See can grant such an indult. Either the Holy See or the local ordinary is competent for members of dio-cesan congregations, but in practice the indult is obtained from the latter. The competent local ordinary is the ordinary of the place where the religious is staying. The ordinary of the mother house is 1. Goyeneche, Quaestiones Canonicae, II, 124-25 2. Schaefer, De Religiosis, n. 1536, 5. 226 EXCLAUSTRATION AND SECULA.RIZATION competent only for religious staying within his diocese, not for those staying in. other dioceses.3 The competent ordinary therefore is the ordinary of the domicile or quasi-domicile of the religious, even if the latter is Outside either diocese at the time the indult is granted. A religious has a domicile in the diocese of the house to which he is assigned, a quasi-domicile in a diocese where he has licitly resided for the greater part of a year or has been or.dered to reside for the greater part of a year. The ordinary of the licit actual and real resi-' dence of a religious is also competent as long as such residence con-tinues and'the religious is within his diocese, i. e., of a diocese in which the religious has licitly resided for a week or at-, least for several days, since a place where one is staying is not confined in canon law to a domicile or quasi-domicile,4 An ordinary is probably competent with regard to any diocesan religious who is .actually licitly in his diocese at the moment the indult is granted, even if only momentarily and without any regard to the length of the stay, since this also is at least probably a canonical meaning of the place where one is staying.6 The apostolic delegate, possesses the following faculty for nuns: "To allow nuns in case of sickness or for other just and grave rea- ~sons to live outside the religious house for a time to be fixed at his prudent discretion, on condition, however, that they shal~ always have the association and assistance of their relatives by blood or mar-riage or of some other, respectable~woman, that they shall live at home and elsewhere a religious life free 'from the society of men, becomes virgins consecrated to God, and without prejudice to the prescription of canon 639.''~ 3. Sufficient reasons for exclaustration (c. 639). Since common life and subjection to superiors are highly essential elements of the religious state, serious and exceptional reasons are required for the granting of this indult. Those commonly given are a business un-dertaking, care of personal health, and care or support of one's par-ents when these things cannot be accomplished b~ a simple absence from the institute according to ~; 606, § 2~ Other reasons of equal or greater import will suffice. 4. Effects of an indult of exclaustration (c. 639). The effects 3. Code Comm., July 24, 1939; Bouscaren, Canon Law Di~est. II, 173. 4. CL'cc. 94, §§ 2-3; 162, § 1; 620: 1023, § 3; 1039, § 1: 1097, § 1, ~.2": 1563: 1787, § 1; 2385. 5. Cf. c. 94, §§ 2-3: Regatillo, lnterpretatio et lurisprudentia Codicis luris Canonici, 244-45: Michiels, Principia Generalia de Personis in Ecclesia, 210- 11 : 119: Normae Generales luris Canonici, II, 729-36. 6. Bouscaren, op. cir., I, 184; Vermeersch, Periodica, 12 (1924), 145-46. 227 JosEp~-I F. GRLLEN Reoieto for Religious are always the same, whether the indult is granted by the Holy See or a local ordinary. The latter cannot determine the effects of an indult granted by himself, since these are determined by c. 639. The exclaustrated religious remains a religious and a member of hi~ in-stitute. Therefore, he is free of no obligations and loses no rights except those expressly stated in law. The obligation of the vows continues during exclaustration. The obligation of chastity remains undhanged. Instead of being subject to the superiors of his institute, the exclaustrated religious is now subject, also in virtue of the vow of obedience, to the ordinary of the dibcese in which he is staying. The cession of the admihistration, disposition of the use and usufruct, and will that he had made in religion all remain in effect. Exclaus-tration does not change the norms for acquiring property, and the religious acquires property for the institute and for himself in the same way that he would if he were not exclaustrated. He is given implicit permission by the indult itself to acquire, administer, and use temporal goods insofar as these are necessary for his becoming sustenance and the purpose of the indult, e. g., the support of parents. He is obliged to avoid all superfluous expenses. The institute has no obligation from justice to support an exclaustrated religious but shbuld do so from charity insofar as he is hnable to support himself.7 The exclaustrated religious is held to all other obligations, i. e., the laws of the code on religious, the obligations of the Rule, con-stitutions, customs,, ordinances, and regulations of his institute in-sofar as these are compatible with his present state. He is therefore not held to incompatible obligations, which in general are those that depend on common life, e. g., silence, attendance at common exer-cises, inspection of correspondence. Compatible obligations, to which he is held, are, e. g., mental prayer, private recitation of the office, hearing of Mass, ~requenting the sacrament of penance, recitation of the rosary, examen of conscience, other prayers that can be said pri-vately, fast, and abstinence. He must put off the religious habit but may continue to wear any undergarments that appertain to the habit and the small habit, called the scapular, worn under the clothing by the tertiaries of some religious orders. Exclaustrated priests and clerics wear the dress of the diocesan clergy. For special reasons the local ordinary may permit an exclaustrated religious of a diocesan 7. Cf. Guti~rrez, Commentarlum Pro Religiosis, 36 (1955), 375; Schaefer, op. cit., n. 1535; Goyeneche, De Relioiosis, 196, note 19; Coronata, lnstitutiones luris Canonici, I, 840, note 4; Chdodi-Ciprotti, lus Canot~icura de Personis, n. 286; Berutti, De Religiosis, 327. 228 Seprernber, 1956 EXCLAUSTRATION ,AND SECULARIZATION congegation to wear the habit,s The Holy See, of course, may grant the same permission to a religious of a pontifical or diocesan insti-tute. The Holy See grants this permission when no scandal will ens,ue and provided the superior of the institute approves the request, espe-cially when the reason for the exclaustration is not caused by the re-ligious himself.9 During exclaustration the religious possesses neither active nor passive voice. He retains the merely spiritual privileges of his institute, e. g., indulgences. He follows the calendar and rite of his {nstitute in the recitation of the office and the same rite in saying Mass. He retains the privileged confessional faculties of his institute as also those of blessing objects. Heo is not deprived, of suffrages if he should die during exclaus~ration, since no law of the code divests him of this right acquired by profession.19 5, Return to the institute. Whe~i the definite time for which the indult was granted has expired or the reason for which it was given has ceased, the religious is ~o return without delay to his institute, unless an extension of the indult has been obtained from the'com-petent authority. The religious has the rights, to ret'urn before the expiration of the indult, and the institute is Obliged to receive him back. For just reasons his ,religious superiors may also recall him to the institute before the expiration of the indult. 6. Imposed exclaustration. A new form of exclaustration, not contained in the code, has been introduced in the recent practice of the Holy See. It is usually granted on the petition of superiors, whether the subject consents, .is opposed, or indifferent. The essen-tial characteristic of, this exclaustration is that it is imposed, is of obligation, is a precept of dwelling outside the institute. The rea-son is f.requently the good of the community, i. e., the conduct of the religious is a source of serious harm to the institute. Often the good of the subject also is intended, i. e., for his own good' the re-ligious sbould be e~claustrated. Typically specific cases are those of religious who are notably deficient in observance or obedience, who undermine and mi~chinate against government, and very difficult characters who do not merit dismissal but seriously disturb the p~ace of the community. These cases are stated to be of more frequent occurrence in institutes of women. Such reasons are often accom-panied by physical or mental maladies. The state of the religious in 8. Code Comm., Nov. 12, 1922; Bouscaren, op. cir., I, 326-27. 9. Larraona. Acta et Documenta Congressus lnternationalis 8uperiorissarum Gen-eraliurn, 265. 10. Creusen, Religious Men and Wom, en in the Codb, n. 334. 229 JOSEPH F. (3ALLEN Reolew for Religious imposed exclaustration is the same,as in 'the ordinary or voluntary exclaustration, but he may be placed under the vigilance of the local ordinary or his own religious superiors. The religious is obliged to work for his own support, but in this case the institute has a greater obligation i~n charity to support him insofar as he cannot do so him-self. Imposed exclaustration is not prescribed for any definite period of time, but it is not perpetual. It lasts as ldng as the.reasons and purpose persist in the judgment of the S. Congregation of Religious, and the rehg~ous may return and be receN:ed back into the institute only with the permission of the S. Congregation. A clerical religious in sacr,ed orders wh~ is to be exclaustrated in this manner may be received by a bishop but without any intention of future incardination. In this case the religious is in the same state as that of ordinary exclaustration. He is under the authority of the bishop, also in virtue of the vow of obedience, and he exercises the ministry under the authority of the bishop. Such a clerical religious may not have a bishop who is willing to receive him, but another ecclesiastical authority, e. g., a.religious superior of another institute, is willing to be answerable to the Holy See for at least his priest!y life. The religious is then permitted to say Mass in the religious or pious house under the responsibility of this superior. He remains under the authority~and vigilance of his own religious superiors. If ¯ neither a bishop nor other ecclesiastical authority is had, the Holy See does not ilnpose exclaustration on such a c]'erical religious except in a case of absolute necessity. If it is imposed, the exercise of any order or sacred ministry is fbrbidden; and the religious is under his own superiors with regard to his Christian, clerical, and religious life~n II. S~CULARIZATION 7. Definition and competent autboritO (cc. ,638, 640). Secu-larization is a departure from religion by which a subject is separ-ated completely and perpetually from all membership in his .institute and is freed completely and perpetually of all obligations and loses all rights that h~ve their source in religious profession. By seculari-zation the religious ceases to be a religious. Since secularization dis-penses from all the vows of religious profes~sion, even if solemn, i( is commonly called a dispensation from the vows of religion. The competent authority for an indult of secularization is the same as for exclaustration, as explained in n. 2. ~ 11. Guti~rrez, op. cit., 32 (1953), 336-39~; Larraona, op. cir., "266. 230 September, 1956. EXCLAUSTRATION AND SECULARIZATION 8. Sufficient reasons. Very serious' reasons~are required for secu-larization, and the ecclesiastical authority competent to grant the indult is the judge of their sufficiency. There must be a reason over and above the mere desire to'leave religion. The ir~dult is granted because of the motive of the request, not merely because it is requested. The most common reaso~ is that the religious finds the religious life morally impossible or too difficult, even if this state arises from culp-able causes that he will not correct, The difficulty may have its source °in the vow of chastity, obedience, or poverty, the common life, work, or general life of the institute. A reason insufficient in itself may become sufficient when the mental state of the religious that be will not correct is taken into account, e. g., if his desire to leave makes him useless or a source of harm i:o the institute. Other reasons of equal or greater import will suffice, ~. g., lack of suitability for the work of the institute, ill health, mental depression, necessary support of parent.s, and the case of those who are counselled to leave because otherwise the institute will initiate their dismissal. 9. Petition. The religious himself asks for the indult of seculari-zation, since it is a voluntary leaving of religion. He is to write out or at least sign his request, stating his name in religion and in the world, name of his institute, his present address, age, number of years in religion, of what vows he is professed and for how ,long, what orders he has received, that i~e requests an indult of seculariza-tion, all the reasons, and the date. The institute should retain a copy of this petition. The petition should be forwarded to the competent authority ordinarily through the superior general or at least through a higher superior. All the statements above (n. I) on the necessity of the consent of superiors for exclaustration apply here also. The higher superior should enclose a letter with the petition giving all in-formation pertinent to the case ;~nd his own opinion as to whether the religious should leave, substantiatin~ the latter with all reasons and facts that he may know. 10. Acceptance and refusal of indult. (a) Acceptance. When the indult of secularization is received, it should be communicated to the religious; and he should manifest his acceptance of it. "Any instruc-tions on the manner of acceptance contained in the indult are.to be followed. Otherwise, it is ,sufficient that the religious manifest his acceptance by any external s, ign that expresses acceptance. It is better for the acceptance to" be manifested in writing and before two wit-nesses. The following or a similar statement should be written or typed: "I attest that I today accepted, an .indult of secularization 231 JOSEPH 1~. GALEEN from the Order (Congregation)~ of N." The statement should con-tain mention of the place and date. It is to be signed by the recipient before the two witnesses, who are themselves to sign the acceptance as witnesses. The document is to be preserved in the files of the in-stitute. It would be well also for the higher superi'or, personally or through another, to give the secularized ex-religious a written and signed statement on the stationery of the institute to the effect that he had received and accepted an indult of secularization and .accordingly left religion free of all obligations of the religious life. The place-and date are to be mentioned also on this statement. (b) Acceptance and immediate repentance. An indult of seculari-zation produces all its effects immediately upon its acceptance, even if the former religious repents instantly and before leaving the house.12 (c) Refusal. Secularization, even though voluntarily petitioned, has no effect.until accepted; and the religious may refuse to accept the indult.13 If the institute, whether pontifical or diocesan, has serious reasons against the refusal these are to be proposed to the S. Congregation of Religious, which could oblige the religious to accept the [ndult or declare [hat the indult has its effect without ac-ceptance, thus making it equivalent to a form of dismissal.14 The formalities described above for an acceptance should also be followed for a refusal of the-indult. (d) Later useJof a refused indult. If the religious definitively fused the indult and later wishes to leave, a new indult must be pe-titioned. 'If, all things considered, 'the refusal was only doubtful, hesitant, not definitive, the indult is suspended and may be used later. If it is not accepted nor definitively refused within six months, the matter is to be referred tO the ecclesiastical authority that issued the indult.~ (e) Present practice of the Holt¢ See. Indults of secularization granted by the Holy See, for those who are not priests now contain the sentence: "This decree ceases to have any validity if hot'accepted by" the petitioner within ten days after being informed of the execu-torial decree." If within ten days: (1) the indult is expressly ac- 12. Cf.'Guti~trez, o/9. cir., 32 (1953), 194: Creusen, o/9. cit.,'n. 332, 3; Fan-fani, De lure Religiosocaro, n. 490. 13. S. C. of Religious, Aug. I, 1922; Bouscaren, ol9. dr., I, 326. 14. Ci:. Maroto, Commentari,,m Pro Religiosis, 4 (1923), 106. 15. Cf. Goyeneehe, Quaestiones Canonlcae, II, 126-27; Guti~rrez, o/9. cir., 32 (1953), 194-95: Jombart, Tcaitd de Dcoit Canonique, I, n. 907; Muzzarelli, Tractatus Canonicus de Congregationibas luris Dioecesani, 172: Jone, Cora-raeotarium in Codicem laris Canon.&[, I, 563; de Bonhome, Ret~ue des com-munautds Religieuses, 26 (1954), 47, 232 EXCLAUSTRATION AND SECULARIZATION cepted, it becomes effective immediately; (2) the indult is neither accepted nor definitively refused, it ceases'to have any validity at the end of this period;~ (3) the indult is definitively refused, all validity of the indult ceases on this definitive refusal. A new indult is to be petitioned if the religious repents of his refusal and wishes again to leave, even during the ten-d.ay period. The practice of the'.Holy See is not to grant the indult directly to'the religious but to commit to an intermediary person, e~ g.; the local ordinary, the granting of the indult to the religious. The actual granting of the indult by this intermediary is called the executorial decree. The ten days begin to run from the time the ~eligious is offi-cially notified of the executorial decree, not from the date of notifi-cation of the rescript of the Holy See. The day of notification, is not computed. If the notification is given on August 1, the ten days expire at midnight of August 11-12. This time does not run for any period in which the religious was ignorant of or unable to ex-ercise his right of acceptance and refusal.l~ 11. Effects of an inctult of secularization (c. 640). The effects are always the same, whether the indult is granted by the Holy See or ~a local ordinary~ The latter cannot determine the effects of an indult granted by himself, since these are determined by c. 640. One who has been secularized ceases simply and absolutely to be a r& ligious. He is in the same state as if he had never been a religious and° consequently has none.of the rights or obligations of a religious. Can. 640 specifie~ these effects by stating that he ceases to be a mem-ber of his institute; that he must put off the religious habit, as ex- ,plained in n. 4; that he is freed from all the vows of his religious p~ofession, even if solemn; that he is no longer bound by the con-stitutions nor by any particular law of his former institute nor by the obligation of .reciting the Divine Office in virtue of religious pro-fession; and that he loses a.ll rights and privileges of a religious. A secularized religious cleric in sacred orders is bound by tl~e obligation of clerical celibacy and chastity (c. 132, § I), of reciting tl'ie Divine Office (c. 135), and of wearing becoming ecclesiastical garb (c. 136, § 1). In the celebration of Mass, the recitation of the Divine Office, and the administration and reception of the sacraments, the secular-ized religious follows the rite and calendar of the diocesan clergy and laity, not any special rite or proper calendar of his former in-stitute. A secularized religious ma.y not. be admitted into any re-ligious institute without a dispensation from the Holy See, since he 16. Cf. Guti~rrez, ibid., 186-97; Larraona, op. cir., 266. 233 JOSEPH F. GALLEN Review for Religious. is now bound by the invalidating impediment of c. 542, I°, of a previous religious profession. If he is again admitted,, he is not obliged to make another postulancy17 but must make another novice-ship, temporary profession, for the full time prescribed by, the, con-stitutions, and perpetual profession. His seniority is determined by the new profession. A dispensation may be requested for'a lessening of a noviceship of more than a year and also of the time of tem-porary profession. The questions specific to clerics in minor and sacred orders (c. 641) and the privations that affect the latter (c. 642) can be found in the ordinary canonical manuals. (a) Return o['tgroperty. The institute has no obligation to re-store to the secularized religious any property that he had given to the institute, e. "g., in the renunciation before solemn profession. However, it is the very common d6ctrine of authors that equity counsels the restoration of a part of such property, at least if it has not been expended,is The renunciation, ceases to have any validity with regard to property that will come to the former religious in the future. A professed of simple vows regains the administration, use, and usufruct of his personal property (cc. 569, § 1; 580, § 3). A few constitutions contain the provision that clothing and personal effects brought to the institute at entrance are to be restored in their current condition to a religious who leaves'or is dismissed after first profession. Such a provision is to be obeyed. The constitutions may contain the contrary provision that hll such objects, except those of sufficiently notable value, are implicitly renounced in favor of the institute at first profession. In the absence of any provision' of the constitutions or custom, the latter doctrine may at least probably be followed. The ihstitute cannot be expected to permit the religious to carry all such objects from house to house or be obliged to retain and store them. The entire capital sum of the dowry, ~but not the interest already derived from it, is to be restored to a.secularized re-ligious woman (c. 551, § 1)i It is forbidden to deduct anything from the dowry for ordinary or extraordinary expenses that the institute had to pay in favor of the religious, e. g., for her support as a postulant or novice, studies, or illne'ss. A secularized r~ligious may not seek compensation for services rendered to the institute at any 17. Cf. c. 640, § 2: Larraona, Commentacium Pro Relioiosis, 16 (1935), 223; done, ot9 clt., 565. 18. Cf. dombart, o19. cir., n. 908; Beste, lntroductio in Codicem, 436; Claeys Bouuaert-Simenon, Manuale duris Canonici, I,, n. 689; Bastien, Directoire Canonique, 440, note 3; Vermeerscfi-Creusen, Epitome luris Canot~ici, I, n. 801. '234 EXCLAUSTRATION AND, ~;ECUL!~RIZATION time from his entrance .(c. 643, § 1). 12. Charitable subsidy for religious wotner~ (c. 643, § 2). The charitable subsidy consists of suitable clothing, personal effects, and a sum of money sufficient to enable a religious woman to return home safely and becomingly and to provid~ her with the means of a re-spectable livelihood for a period of time to be determined by mutual consent or, in the case of disagreement, by the local ordinary. The subsidy need not be prolonged beyond the time required for finding employment suitable to the condition of the former religious. If she is quite old and infirm and without resources, she must agree to enter" into a'suitable institution intended for persons of that condi-tion. The help given by her former institute need never have the~ character of a pension for life.19 Constitutions of religious women most rarely determine whether it is the institute, province, or house that is to furnish the subsidy. The matter.is therefore determined by the 'usage of the particular institute. The subsidy is to be given when the religious was received with-out a dowry or with a dowry insufficient for the purpose2° and cannot p~ovide for herself sufficiently from her own property. In " these circurfistances therefore the institute is obliged to give either the full amount of the subsidy or, in the event that the religious has some property of her own and/or a dov~ry insufficient for the purpose, the added amount necessary to equal the full amount of the subsidy. The ~ubsjdy has to be given to any ~eligious woman who leaves at the end of temporary profession or is then excluded from renew-ing temporary or making j~erpetual profession (c. 643, § 2), who is secularized during temporary or perpetual profession. (c. 643; § 2), or is dismissed during either temporary or perpetual profession (cc. 643, § 2; 647, § 2, 5°; 652, § 3). The code does not mention the subsidy in c. 653, which treats of s.ending a religious back im-mediat. ely and provisionally to secular life, nor in c. 646, which lists the crimes that effect theipso facto dismissal of religious. How-ever, the general canon on the subsidy is 643, § 2, which is evidently closely joined with the firs~ paragraph of the same canon. The latter lists dismisged religious without any restriction. The subsidy should certainly be given in the first case. It seems that it should also be given in the second case. It is not likely that the reli~gious is deprived of the su, bsidy because of the greater culpability of these crimes. The 19. Creusen, op. cir. n. 338; .]'ombart, op. cir., n. 908. 20. S. C. of Religious, Mar. 2, 1924: Bouscaren,.op. cir., I, 300. 235 JOSEPH F. GALLEN Review for Religious ordinary dismissal of a religious wbman of perpetual vows demands culpable reasons, yet the code certainly commands that the subsidy-be given to all religious women dismissed in the ordinary manner. The canonical obligation of giving the subsidy is confined to religious women. However, an institute of men will practically al-ways have to give a subject in the same circumstances suitable cloth-ing, personal effects, and a sum of money sufficient to enable him to retu, rn home safely and becomingly; and equity and charity may oblige the institute to assist him financially until he secures em-ployment. 21 13. Special exctaustration (exclaustratio qualit~cata) o1: priests. This is, equivalently .a temporary laicization and secularization. Lai-cization deprives the cleric of the licit use of the power of orders, of clerical offices, rights, and privileges, and frees him of all clerical obligations except that of clerical celibacy and chastity attached to sacred orders (c. 213). The effects of secularization have been de-scribed above. In special exclaustration clerical and religious rights and obligations are not removed but'suspended for the time of the indult. This form of exclaustration is new and was introduced in the practice of the Holy See in October, 1953. It is confined to priests and may be granted only by the Holy See. The indult is generally given only on the petition of the subject or at least with his con-sent. It is likewise temporary and is usually granted only for a brief time, e. g., one or two years. Special exclaustration is a tem-porary and provisional remedy and ordinarily presupposes, tempor-ary reasons that will probably cease by its use. Typical cases are those of a serious crisis of faith, of disgust or fear "of the religious and priestly life, serious da,nger of public scandal or of apostasy from the priesthood or from fai.th, some physical infirmities, serious psy-chic disorders caused by the persuasion of a fundamental lack of aptitude for the priestly and religious life, depressive and scrupulous states, obstinate abstention from the celebration of Mass and from the sacraments caused partially, by infirmity and scruples, invincible repugnance to the exercise of the priestly ministry, and a secretly sinful life with consequent psychic depression and the persuasion that the life of chastity is impossible. The Holy See is ac,utely con-scious of the various dangers of this form of exciaustration and pro-ceeds prudently and cautiously in granting the indult and acts only 21. Cf. Woywood-Smith, A Practical Commentary on the Code of Canon Law, I, 323; Coronata, op. cir., 845; Cappello, Summa luris Canonlci, II, n. 630; ¯Regatillo-Zalba, De Statibus Particularibus, n. 254. 236 September, 1956 EXCLAUSTRATION AND SECULARIZATION ¯ after having obtained complete information of the course of life of the petitioner. The priest continues to be a member of his institute, and this constitutes the essential similarity to ordinary exclaustration. The obligation of all the religious 'vows is suspended, but that of clerical celibacy and chastity attached to sacred o~rders remains. All other clerical and religious rights and Obligations are s,uspended, all clerical ministry is forbidden, and the priest is in the state of a lay person with regard to the reception of the sacraments. The indult places him under the special discipline and assistance of the local ordinary and of the institute that he may be charitably guided to upright and be-coming conduct and be aided in overcoming the crisis. He is obliged to put off the external form of the religious habit, as in ordinary exclaustration and secularization, and be ii also forbidden to wear ecclesiastical garb. He retains the merely spi'ritual privileges of his institute but does not have any of the other rights nor active and passive voice. During the time 'of the indult he acquires property for himself and may and should provide his own support. Before leaving religion he is to give the superior a declaration that he will provide his own support during the exclaustr~tion without any ob-ligation on the part of the institute. Cases can occur in which this declaration will not be prescribed, and the institute in charity should support the subject insofar as he cannot do so himself. Superiors may receive the subject back into the institute before the expiration of the indult~ but the clerical privations remain intact. until the Holy See has given its decision. On the expiration of the indult, the priest is obliged to return to his institute and recourse is to be made to the S. Congregation for a decision of the case. Su-periors, however, may use the faculty of c. 606, § 2, and permit him to live outside the institute for a brief time until the S. Congre-gation decides the matter. The indult can also cease on" its revoca-tion by the S. Congregation, either on the petition of the subject or for a serious reason on the initiative of the S. Congregation. The indult likewise ceases on the granting of perpetual laicization, by the penal infliction of such laicization, e. g., in the case of public scandal, or by a petition for secularizatior~ when the priest has found a bishop who is willing to receive him according to the norm of c. 641. All of the above on special exclaustration is a synopsis of Gutiirrez, Commentari~m Pro Religiosis, 36 (1955), 374-79. The matter i~ briefly described also in Sartori, durisprudev.tiae Ecclesiasticae Ele-menta, 3 ed., 60-61. ~ 237 Mo!:her Dolores Sister M. Teresita, S.H.F. The story of the foundress of the Sisters of the Holy Famil'y THE sudden rush of the ambitious gold seekers of 1848 gave Cali-~ | fornia, and San Francisco in particular, a cosmopolitan Char-acter. But abreast with the adventurers came new recruits in the missionary field seeking the finer gold of precious human souls. Ireland supplied a great many zealous young priests who-were ready to sacrifice home and country. They came to minister to the spiritual wants of her children who followed the lure of gold to the far-away shores of the Pacific. Foremost among the early students of All Hallows' Seminar~, in Dublin was John J. Prendergast. Born in Clogh~e, County Tip-perary, Ireland, in 1834; Father Prendergast was ordained for the Archdiocese of San Francisco on June 26, 1859. His great talents and fervent piety marked him out as an extraordinary student. He was offered a place on the faculty of All Hallows. As he was or- .dained for San Francisco, the authorities communicated with Arch- 'bishop Alemany. To make sure of the Archbishop's permission, two priests were offered in place of Father Prendergast. The de-" cision was left to the newly ordained. He refused the honor and set out for the distant country, chiefly known to the gold hunter, the specul~tor, and adventurer. He arrived in San Francisco when it was in the throes of civil, reli~lious~ educational, and social disor-ganization. In the exercise of the sacred ministry, Father Prendergast met the poor, the unfortunate, as well as the newly rich. He frequently walked the streets of the rapidly growing metropolis sprung out of the sand dunes, the city built,on the hills. His priestly heart ached for the many children he found who were totally ignora.nt of the truths of the faith of their forefathers. The sudden growth since the gold rush. of '49 had far outstripped municipal facilities. Mission Dolores was the parish to which Father Prendergast was assigned. It covered two-thirds of the present area of San Fran-cisco. In taking the census, this ardent son of Erin found many of the children of the poor living in frightful conditions. Many, whose mothers were obliged to go out to work for their living, were left alone all day. They were locked in their backyards with a half losf of bread and a bottle of milk to suktain them. Daily, Father 'lSrayed 238 MOTHER ~OLORES for a solution to the problem and begged God to send a suitable person to inaugurate a systematic campaign among the poor and neglected families of his parish. It was in the sun.rsplasbed gardens of historic Mission Dolores that Father Prendergast first met the high s~0irited, vivacious Eliza-beth Armer. Elizabeth had accompanied Mrs. Richard Tobin to arra, nge to have Masses said for departed relatives. She was standing there beside her" dark-eyed foster mother, the morning sun shining on her golden crown of auburn hair. She carned her fifteen years with girlish dignity. The warm, radiant personality manifested in one so young impressed Father Prendergast. Father felt that Elizabeth, though still a young girl, was just the one to begin his work. When he was later transferred to the Cathedral parish, he secured her services as a religion teacher for the children. She also assisted in cariflg for the altars. Eagerly he watched the unfolding of this beautiful flbwer in God's chosen gar-den. Rapidly plans for a much-needed institute developed in his own mind. Elizabeth Armer came to us out ~f Sidney, Australia. Little is known of her ancestry or early childhood. She was born on April 30, 1851. Soon after she arrived on our shores with her family, her mother died. Her father, Robert Amkr, remarried. It was the oft-repeated story of the step-dhild. Richard Tobin, a friend of Robert Ar~mer, coming home from the office one~da~, said, "Mary; I have a surprise for you. I've brought you a new daughter." Mr. Tobin told his wife that she was the child ofhis.old friend Robert Armer and added, with, deep faith, "Mary dear, God will provide." And God did. Elizabeth was enrolled in the classes at Presentation Convent. Here she spent her happy" school days under the supervision and in-struction of the good Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. That Elizabeth developed such a well-adjusted personality, spite her early misfortune, was due to the sympathetic understand-ing of her new parents. The comforts of their luxuriant home on exclusive Nob Hill did not distract Elizabeth from her love of God and souls. She often met little folks on ,thestreet. She would ,stop them to talk with them. This tall, beautiful girl would ask, "Do you love God? Do you say your prayers? . But we don't know any prayers, Miss," they would answer. "'Come to our house and I will'help 239 " SISTER M. TERESITA Review [or Religious you to learn to love God and to talk to" Him." Soon, Elizabeth had gathered quite a group of children around her to "learn about God." Her foster father remarked that their home was beginning to take on the appearance of a kindergarten. However, Mr. Tobin good naturedly tolerated the invasion. Mrs. Tobin often accompanied Elizabeth on her visits to the homes of the poor. In the institute of which she was destined to be foundress, these early characteristic traits, zeal for sQuls, love for the poor, were to be its distinguishing marks. Alleviation o.f both material, and spiritual poverty, .especially in families, was to be its special work. Soliciting funds from the wealthy to aid the less fortunate was to be the means, of extending help. 'They would seek out the children who needed religious instruction. They would lend a helping hand where needed, to preserve the family. This apostolic social work and social-minded apostolate are the_constant endeavors of her spiritual daughters, today. In spite of her active participation in the lay apostolate, Eliza-beth yearned for a complete dedication of her life to God, Her per-sonal love of the Saviob drew her with such force that Elizabeth thought that God was calling her to be a Carmelite. The future foundress desired to do God's will rather than her own, which led her to consult the archbishop about her vocation. "Elizabeth," replied the saint!y'Archbishop Alemany, "Father Prendergast and I have another work for~ you to ~1o, There are the little ones to be cared for while their mothers are off to work. And who is to instruct the children of our big city in the ways of faith, hope, and love? They must be prepared "for the Sacraments; they must be brought to the knowledge, love, and service of God. There are the poor to be visited in their homes. There are hearts to heal and souls to save in our busy city streets. This, is the work Ggd wants you to do, Elizabeth." To give up the s.ecurity of a life in a long-established and well-ordered religious congregation! To launch out on the rough sea of uncertainty of establishing a new institute! Was this what God was asking?. With firm faith and steady heart, she gave herself with perfect trust into the care of God's representative. This same simple faith, ardent love; and child-like trust mzrked all her dealings with God and men throughout her beautiful but comparatively short life. Trials were. not wanting; for it is only in the crucible of suffer-ing that the pure gold of such a soul is tried. It was necessary that the edifice of the Holy Family institute (the eternal inheritance be- 240 September, 19~6 MOTHER DOLORES queathed by Mother Dolores to her spiritual children) had to rest on the solid foundation of deep humility. God was not long in sending the first trial. Elizabeth was now twenty years of age. The time had come for definite action. At the bidding of her archbishop and Farher Pren-dergast, she left her foster parents' home. With one companion, Miss Collins, she moved into a little rented flat on Pine Street on November 6, 1872. This is Foundation~Day. DaiI~ they went about the duties of caring for the poor, the sick, and the needy: From the outset, the idea of a religious com-munity was in the mind of the founders. They were to devote them-selves generously to the service of God in the children and the poor. Father Prendergast had very definite i~leas of the life and work off. the young institute. To visit the homes of the poor, to bring" relief to the sick, to seek out the neglected children in their families--these are goals in social work that cannot be too much insisted upon. There is danger in our modern projects, providing recreation grounds and community clubs and hikihg expeditions, to neglect the family. 'Father Pren-dergast's idea of assistance covered the whole field of need. "Help-ing others to help themselves," was to be the m6tto of his welfare work. These two energetic young women labored enthusiastically for some months. The good the future institute was to accomplish, in the designs of God, was to be far-reaching. The souls to Obe snatched from Satan were to be 'many. Of course, the devil did not like this. He had his own plan to kill this good work in its infancy. On the other hand, every good work must be tried in the crucible of tribulation: A soul as staunch and courageous as that of Elizabeth Armer must be refined yet more. One morni~ng Miss Collins failed to report for duty. When Miss Armer visited her room, there were visible, On the hands and feet of Miss Collins, the likeness of the wounds of the Savior. Ever straightforward and upright herself, Miss Armer did not doubt her companion's sincerity. The incident created quite a stir. Shortly after, however, on investigation, it was discovered that the wounds were self-inflicted. Miss Collins was dismissed. , The incid'ent is brief in the telling, but who can kno~v the de.ep wound in the soul of the trusting Elizabeth. The scorn that sur-rounded her young institute. The infidelity of one she loved and trusted. 241 SISTER M. TERESITA ~ Review for Religious Another joined Miss Armer for a time. But the work was too hard; the.scorn was too difficult to bear. Friends of Father Prender-gast advised him to give up the idea. One after another had failed. He only replied, "There is one who will never fail, Elizabeth Armer." These were indeed dark days for the young foundress. She never referred to it--this trial was one she bore alone. She leaned on God alor~e for support. She maintained the same zeal for works of charity, the same devotedness to the poor and to the children of the Sunday schools. She did not seek a moment to relax. Her visits to the sick poor continued as before. When she needed a companion, she al-ways knew where to find one in the ever-faithful Mrs. Richard Tobin. Nearly two years had passed since Miss Armer had begun her work in the little rented house on Pine Street. They had been years of struggle and discouragement. True, they had been fruitful of good, but barren as far as a religious community was concerned. Alone, "disappointed in one, abandoned by another," the future Mother Dolores prayed, labored, and trusted in God. Mrs. Tobin remained faithful and Father Prendergast maintained his confidence. Then renewed hope came. On lk-lizabeth's birthday, in 1874, there came a, caller. It had been Ellen O'Connor's third attempt to see Miss Armer. "You are my birthday present!" Elizabeth exclaimed, when Ellen told her that Father Andrew Cullen had sent her. "This morning I asked the" Blessed Mother to send me a present. Have you come to stay? . I hope so," was Ellen's reply. ,And she did. As Sister Teresa, Ellen became the lifelong companion of Mother Dolores and succeeded her as Mother General of the institute. The new enterprise had been marked with the cross, the sign of God'~ special favor. The youthful foundress had proved herself faithful. The work was readyto move fbrward.:. Very soon, other generous young girls came knocking at the door of the little rented convent asking, "May I help too?" The poverty of the flat did not seem to frighten them. The long .hours among the children did not seem to tire them. The night watches with the sick and dying did not make them change their minds. They had cgme to give their all to Christ. He was all in all to them! This was the generous, self-sacrificing spirit that animated those early sisters who were first known as "The Miss Armers." Father Prende~gast called them Sisters of the Holy Family. And that name has been made their own. In rapid succession, four young ladies came to. join Miss Armer 242 September~ 1956" MOTHI~R DOLORES and Miss O'Connor. Winter,was now past for the young institute, and God was blessing it with increase. Archbishop Alemany decided that ,steps should be taken to establish a regular religious congrega-tion. Miss O'Connor was sent to the Dominican Convent in Benecia to make her novitiate. In 1878, she pronounced her .vows as Sisger Teresa of Jesus, in the presence of the Archbishop and the sisters. Now the foundress became .subject and, with her four compan-ions, began her novitiate under the direction of Sister Teresa. They completed their required novitiate in March, 1,880. On the Feast of St. Joseph, faithful guardian of the Holy Family and special pro-tector of the institute, Sister Dolores and the four sisters pronounced their holy vows. The Sisters of the Holy Family were molded into a new congregation in the Church. California's' own; its first, and still its only, native religious institute. Alr~eady, as early as1878, Archbishop Alemany"entrusted a new field of labor, which had long been dear to his heart, to the infant community. They were asked to care for young children throughout the day, whose ~mothers were qbliged to work to support their, little ones. Ever mindful of the sacredness of the integrity of family life, the Archbishop saw in these Day Homes the fulfillment of his early plans. At first the sisters shared their own convent with these needy ones of Christ's flock and cared for them "'with the fender charity of a Christian mother~" In due time, four commodious Day Homes were erected in San Francisco through the industry .of the zealous sisters and the charity of kind benefactors. Abreast with catechetical work, the Day.Hgmes have since spread to San ,Jose, Oakland, and Nevada. From their new mother house on Hayes Street, these~ new, ly pro-fessed religi0us, now augmented by more members, carried on the apostolic work already well begun, They set out on their exalted and laborious mission of pushing back the frontiers of rel.igious ig-noranCe.~ The growing city of San Francisco was their first concern. Soon, pastors of parishes outside of San Francisco were asking for the sisters. They gathered th~ children together after school as well as on Saturday and Sunday rhornings. Sometimes classes were held in an unused store. At Tanforan~ race ,track, they held sessions in the pavillion where the children came to them on foot, on. horse-back, or in wagons. Stories could be multiplied without end, of the men and women, priests and religious, who trace their first desire to hear of Godtto the 243 SISTER M. TERESITA Review for Religious kindly invitation of these seekers of souls. This attraction which her sisters have fo~ children seems to be one of the priceless !e~acies Mother Dolores has bequeathed.to her f~mily. We might cal[ it the special sacramental character of their missionary vocation. These were the specific works of the new institute. However, Mother Dolores.was not slow to respond to emergencies. San Fran-cisco's P[esidio became the port for the sick and wounded soldiers during the Spanish American War. Suddenly the dread typhoid ,plagde broke out in the camps. Her sisters willingly volunteered for active duty as nurses. Mother Dolores herself prepared and provided many of the medic~i1 supplies during the three months in which the disease raged. A grateful city expressed its thanks to the valiant work of the many sisters who foughttthe plague by granting free transportation to all sisters on her street cars and buses, even to this day. The memory of the public service rendered by the sisters in this emergency prompted city officials to call upon them in the greater catastrophe of the 'terrible fire and earthquake of 1906. When the trembling city was licked with flames, the sisters could be found assisting the sick and dying. Their mother house became a hospital for the insane. The now homeless desuits found a tem-porary shelter 'on the main floor of the convent. In return, th~ey have given the mother'.house daily'~Mass ever since. The sisters' im-mediate and efficient, response to the city officials' appeal for help in San dose du.ring the influenza epidemic again manifested their alert-ness to the need for prompt and generous action in public calamities. Tireless in her efforts to save souls, Mother Dolores never spardd herself. The work. of organization and administration of her grgw-ing community was taxing her physical ~trength more than her sisters ~realized. A severe heart attack made it evident that Mother's condition was critical; she was'but.53 years old. Father Prendergast was called to her bedside. On seeing him, Mother simply said, "I am going." "No doubt you would like to see your work more~ per-fectly finished and carry out some 6f your plans before going to Heaven, to our Lord." She answered, "God knows best." So on August 2, 1905, her ardent souF in all its radiant splendor, like a restless flame, leaped from the charred remains of its burned-out temple, to the presence of her Creator, her Divine Lover. Mother Dolores was a product of her age and locale. She im-bibed the spirit of the adventurous gold seekers. By supernaturalizing 244 September, 1956 MOTHER DOLORES that spirit, she became an adventurous soul seeker. : Ever mindful of the necessity of adaptation to changing times, the progressive spirit of the foundress was passed on to her daughters. When modern means of travel proved helpful, they were used. The Sisters of the Holy Family were driving their own cars to distant missions when women drivers were still uncommon. Across the alkali beds of Utah, the deserts of Ne,~ada, or into its high moun-tain peaks they go. They use every means to bring the word of God to the ghost towns so reminiscent of the "Gold Rush." Now they contain only the precious ore of immortal souls. The populous cities witness their zeal in going from school to school during the day, teaching on released time. In the far~flung parishes of the Monterey-Fresno Diocese, they travel within the radius of forty-five miles of their convent home. They gather small groups in one-room schools of tile districts. Soon, a little chapel marks the spot and the Mass comes to another outpost conquered for Christ. Or, in the more populous areas, they assemble large groups, for which ~hey need the belp of a "walkie-talkie" to make themselves heard. Always seeking souls, the sisters will be found with the Mexican~ in Texas, extending the frontiers of faith among the~ Indians in Nevada, the Chinese in Fresno, the colored in our large c~ties, the Hawaiians in Hawaii. The young Americans from every state in the Union, who are pouring into our beautiful California in fabu-lous numbers, are feeling the impact of their religious training. Today, the daughters of Elizabeth Armer are laboring in three archdioceses and six dioceses. They are ~nstr~cting 79,000 public school Children in 225 parishes. Last year there were 1400 belated baptisms and 12,843 first Holy Communions. What a rich harvest of souls! Indeed, the fires of her zeal had inflamed many generous young women. The highways and byways,, the towering moun-t;~ ins and the lowly valleys, know the steady progress of this veri-table conflagration-~conquering one outpost after the other for Christ. The welfare work done among these families cannot be estimated. The Day Homes gave day care to 2,000 regardless of race, colo~, or creed during the past year. The same spirit of faith that SUlSported the pioneer sisters is re-flected in the constitutions of the institute "The special end is to instruct and educate children in the doctrine and practice of the Catholic faith . . ." 245 P. DE LETTER Review "for Religious Wl~en death claimed Mother Dolores on August 2, 1905, there was as yet no foundation outside of San Francisco. Mqnsign6r John J. Prendergast went to his reward on January 19, 1914. Pontifical approval was not requested until many years later, so it was not until-July 8, 1931, that the Holy See issued its decree of praise and approval of the" congregation and its constitutions, thus raising it to the status of a pontifical congregation. Monsignor Pren- ~dergast and Mother Dolores witnessed the crowning of their efforts from heaven when on May 28~ 1945, Pope Plus XII, gave tile definitive approbation, bidding the Congregation to ""continue to the~ end of,time." OnMet:hod in !:he Spiri :ual Life P. De Letter,,S. J. THE most common inconsistency is to desire some end and not to take the means to attain it" (Father de Pdnlevoye, S.J.). This applies particularly, though in no way exclusively, to the spiritual life. It happens, and perhaps it is not rare, that we wish for some certain ideal, desire a particular step forward in spirituality, and neglect to take the means. What is the root of this inconsistency? No doubt some sort of inertia-, of fear of effort. We fight shy of exertion. One takes it easy, and so nothing happens. ~We may not like to confess this sort of laziness. No one, no religious, especially, likes'to acknowledge he is lazy. Perhaps that is why not infrequently an endeavor is made to cover up this ihdecision and lack of action with theoretical difficulties. Perhaps the main difficulty in this re-spect is an objection against method in the spiritual life. For; if one were to follow a method, one would be doing something hbout one's intended objective. THE OBJI~CTION The objection is this: In, the spiritual or supernatural life, 'free-dom must be left to the Holy Spirit, to the initiative and inspiration of grace. It is not we who have to take'the initiative; it is the Spirit that takes the lead. Methods endanger 'the freedom of the Spirit who moves as He pleases; they may stifle the growth of the spiritual life, kill its spontaneity. Perhaps today a little more than formcrly this objection is raised, if not in theory then at any rate in practice; 246 September, 1956 ON METHOD IN THE SPIRITUAL LIFI~ it is acted upon. A number of people who yet try tO lead a spiritual life are inclined to care little for effort, for methodical application to prayer, or to the practice of definite virtues. They like to trust in the inspiration of the m, oment, to" follow the movements of grace rather than to forestall them. Lest this objection may actually turn into a cover for laziness, it is worth considering the issue. We shall do so and first consider method in general and then a concrete ex-ample of it, the Ignatian method. THE ISSUE: METHOD AND COOPERATION WITH (~RACE According to Father'de Guibert's Tl~eolog~ of the Spiritual ~Lit¥, n. 176, the use of method in the spiritual life, in prayer, or in the acquisition or practice of a virtue consists in baying some pre-fixed mode of action, suitable, fo? attaining an end and of application in a series of cases. In mental prayer, for example, it means that one prepares and foresees the subject matter and order of meditation, then starts with a progressive introduction to the subject, follows ,point by point using on'e's memory, understanding, and will--re-flecting, prayer, res, olving and ends with a colloquy. Andther ex-0 ample of use of method is the particular examen applied to the prac~ tice Of a virtue. One foresees what should be,done, how and when, resolves beforehand to pay attention and make the effort, and. tv~ice a day checks the way one went about it, examining success or. ill-success and its cause, resolving again 'to do better in tl4e next. half day. " Now, the problem involved in this use of method is that of our cooperation with grace. How must we conceive this cooperation? Tl~e spiritual life, being supernaturally inspired, actually is a matter of cooperation of our free will with grace, the latter leading, the first following~the lead of grace. It is beyond all doubt that in every; supernatura! activity it is grace that takes the initiative i(just a~ it is the reason of its spiritual fruitfulness and success, but this does not concern our present problem). And so the question is whether the use of method goes against the initiative of grace. Do We by'mak-. ing use of such methods as mentioned abbve take an initiative in the spiritual life that should be left to grace, to the inslAibation of the Holy Spirit? , ANSWER ~ We answer: The rigl~t use of method does not hinder the initia-tive of grace but is only ou'r way of cooperatirig ~with grace. When will the use of method be right? On two conditions: when it is 247 P, DE LETTER Review #:or Religious itself prompted by grace and when in its actual practice one does' not stick too rigidly to fixed details but follows eventual inspira-tions of grace that invite to greater liberty of spirit. 'The use of method can .be, and generally is, an answer to indi-cations that come from .grace. When duty calls to set exercises of prayer~ as when the bell sounds for meditation, or when providential ~ircumstances or genuine inspirations of grace (which are in perfect agreement with duties of obedience) invite to a particular practice of virtue, we may take it that to apply oneself methodically to prayer or to virtuous practice i~ merely to answer the initiative of grace. That is our way of cooperating with grace. There could be nothing but self-delusion in waiting for the promp.tin~s of grace to begin meditation when the hour of prayer is there. Method, used in these, circumstaF~ces,is but a guarantee that we are not wanting to grace but do our' share~ Yet in doing our share, enough freedom of mind must be kept for allowing grace to direct us whenever the Spirit so'chooses. A well-known example of this freedom is given in the directive of the Spiritual Exercises to the effect that in meditation we should stop at the poi,nt in which we find spiritual fruit, without any anxiety of going further, stop as long as we find what satisfies our spiritual need. This freedom and docility to the Spirit forestalls 6vet-rigid fidelity to mechanical rules. When grace clearly, takes the le~d, we follow. When the promptings of grace do not draw us, we on our part do what in us lies to answer the Lord's call expressed in our duty. When we understand the use of method in this manner, then Father de Guibert's practical conclusions in the matter are in no way surprising. He says: To reject all method is unsafe and may amount to the error of quietism; the inspirations of ~grace duly known for. authentic (by the discernment of spirits) may be followed, not how-ever against obedience or clearly known duty; the use-of method, generally speaking, is beneficial, because it is" nothing else" than profit-ing by the experience and wisdom of other people and using the r~eans for the end; methods may and do vary greatly, and freedom must be left in using them, the main point being that one has some method which proves workable; exaggerations however are not ex-cluded, one of which may be undue self-reliance shown in. excessive trust in the efficacy of or~e's method. Such being the case, it may be'well for us religious now and. then to see in which direction the general trend of our spiritual life in- 248 Septemb~er, 1956 ON METHOD IN ,THE SPIRITUAL LIFE clines: are we inclined either to overstress method or to neglect it? The danger of neglect may be the more frequent, because of the ef-fort and monotony involved in methodical action, both of which, may look uninteresting and unappealing. Yet, the other extreme of a too-mechanical fidel~ty is not excluded, nor is it without a danger of turning prayer or virtue into a more or' less fruitless for-mality. IGNATIAN METHOD One of the well-known and much,spread methods in the spiritual life is that of St. Ignatius of Loyola. Perhaps it has been no less maligned than praised. What exactly does Ignatian method consist in? We may characterize it briefly in a feW words: Have an objective in view and take the means to achieve it. Or, more briefly, know what you are after and go for it. What do these two principles mean in practice? How do they respect the initiative that must be left to grace? It is worthwhile to ponder a moment over this simple method~ and see how it enhances rather than hinders the initiative of grace. FIRST PRINCIPLE Its first principle, have a purpose in view, is of the utmost im-portance in spirituality, as in every other field of human activity. In fact, many people oftentimes do not know~ what they are after what they do, say, desire. They do what they do because they have to, or because they feel like doing it, or because they must do something to spend their time and for no reason known to then~ they happened to hit on this particular occupation. Such a manner of living may be little respectful of a man's rational nature; it cer-tainly is not Ignatian at all. St. Ignatius means us to know and to desire .what we intend in prayer or mortification-~or for that mat-ter, in study or manual labor or recreation or social relations. And he wants us to be very definite about our objective. For meditation, he not only begins the exercise with a preparatory prayer in which we ask that our entire activity.during our prayer be directed to God's glory and service; in a, second (or third) preclude he makes us ask for "what we desire," his famous id quod volo, that is, for the par-ticular grace and spiritual fruit which is suggested by and. in con-formity with the subject matter of the meditation. Definiteness of ai~n in prayer is a first Ignatian principle. Does it gb against" the initiative that belongs to grace? On the face of it, it may look as though we ourselves settle beforehand what spiritual fruit or grace we are after; is that not to take the lead and 249 P. DE LETTER Reoieto for Religious to put limits and rules to the activity 6f the Holy Spirit? Is that not a sort of Semi-Pelagianism? The question has more than once been mode :into an accusation, partly perhaps when some hasty or unsym-pathetic reader overlooked what precedes the id quod uolo, namely, to.ask for what I desire. We may point to a threefold answer to this difficulty. First of all, we are directed to ask for the grace we desire; and we may safely take it that this desire and prayer itself is already prompted by grace--is not every salutary act which helps us spiritually to draw nearer to God, and prayer is such an act, a fruit of ~the inspiration of grace? This prayer, moreover, is as it were open to correction; it is' up to God's grace to answer our desire --it is not our effort alone that will carry or enforce it--and to an-swer it in the manner He pleases and knows best. Secondly, the very specification or determination of the grace we ask for is, in principle and generally also in fact, not the result of personal whim or fancy (barring perhaps the exceptional cases of impulsive and weather-cock- like characters who lack or neglect due preparation and fore-' sight) ; it is either provided by external providential indications, as is the case in retreat time or when we use a meditation manual, whether prescribed or advised by a director or even chosen on our own motivated decision, or suggested" by internal inspiration. Of grace. In all these cases, this prayer for a particular grace is but an answer to the initiative of grace. Lastly, this initial desire which to a varying extent inspires the very manner in which we apply our-selves to our prayer does not preclude any new promptings of grace that may and often do arise in the course of the exercise. The above-mentioned Ignatian rule about freedom in stopping at what satisfies the soul clearly entails this. Moreover~ the ~d quod ~olo is often of such a comprehensive nature that it leaves ample and free play to. the manifold and varying inspirations of grace. An example is the prayer made at the beginning of most meditations on the life of our Lord: that we may know Him better, love Him more ardently, and follow Him more closely. This is an ide~il which each particular soul will realize in his or her own p~irticular way--and there are as many various ways nearly as there are particular individuals ~and particular vocations. Futhermor.e, tfiis definiteness in asking for a particular grace is mainly a matter of psychological preparation and should not be misunderstood in the sense of dictating to grace. As in any other human uladertaking, so also in prayer; definiteness of aim makes for definiteness in efforts; and this guarantees definite results, just as vagueness of aim leads to vague and weak efforts~ 250 - September, 1956 ON METHOD IN THE SPIRITUAL LIFE and vague and poor results., Accordingly, it is safe tO say that Ig-natian definiteness of aim in our prayer does not clash with the initiative due to grace, provided 0nly we handle our method with a pure intention and with the necessary freedom of spirit. This free-dom is perhaps less fo be attended to in the beginnings of a life of ¯ prayer or of religious training; beginners generally do well to follow directives closely. But after years of practice, experience should teach one what this freedom means, and how it opposes in no way thorough generosity. So much for the first: principle in the Ignatian method~. SECOND PRINCIPLE The second principle; take the means to the purpose you are after, implies mainly two things. It first means to say that we should make the necessary effort. We should not expect results without taking the means that must produce them. Perhaps it is very l'Juman (or must we say childish?) to rely on ,good luck whilst, neglecting what one should do, to hope: and expect that' things will turn out for the b~st somehow. Children in fact more or less expect"miracles to happen. But is tha.t reasonable and safe? Is it not overlooking one of the very first principles of reason: that every effect demands a sufficient and proportionate cause? Which means, in this case, that spiritual results suppose ~not only grace but also our cooperation. It is rather risky to count on a ~ause that may Well never act; in this particula'r case, to rely on abundant grace which would mal~e up for our lack of. diligence; all the more so, since this very unprepared-hess for cooperation with grace is likely, to preclude that grace--God does not dispense His graces in sheer waste. A.second thing implied in this principle, is that we should make a tolanned effort: go about our business, whether of prayer or of any other virtuous practice~ in an orderly manner and not haphaz'ardly: not in an unenlightened way, groping as it were in the dark; not according to an unmotivated manner of proceeding or according to whim and fancy of the moment. This supp,oses first that we know the means for our purpose as they are laid down in directives and rules or borne out by the experience of others or even' learned and confirmed by personal experience. We must know the rules of the game if we are to play properly. It means therefore that it is not enough, however important it may be in itself, to overcqme inertia and set oneself to one's, task, making the needed exertion. We must apply ourselves in a clear-sighted manner, knowing what we are doing and why. It further means that we follow the known direc- 251 P. DE LETTER rives with perseverance. It has been said that "with many, courage gives way when they are half way of the effort; some are afraid of trying, others are afraid of succeeding"; in fact "things are worth what they cost" (Fat, her de Ponlevoye). Yet this perseverance should not be marred by shortsighted stubbornness.We must never forget in practice the necessary freedom of spirit in following methodidal rules; rather we must be ever ready to obey the inspiration of grace, to learn from circumstances and from experience, with humility and, docility, with sincerity and honesty with ourselves. It ma~ not al-ways be easy in practice to find the proper balance bet,ween perseverant fidelity to rules and freedom of spirit or docility to the Spirit. Only the interior Guidi~ can teach it in practice, and He certainly will if we do not lack sincerity and generosity. When this necessary freedom of spirit is safeguarded, there is no fear that metbodital application to prayer or practice of virtue, according to rules and planned action, will make one too mechanical or kill the spontaneity of life needed also in the spiritual life. Method makes for orderly activity; it excl'udes a happy-go-lucky manner which actually is more a lack of readiness to cooperate with grace than the contrary. Method does not kill spontaneity; it directs it, if only one uses it properly, that is, with t?reedom of spirit and sincerity. Nor does it then in any way hinder the initiative of grace which must be respected also in the course of our prayer or practice of virtue. It is part of the method ever to be docile to what grace may show or demand. And so, if tile use of metho~d in the spiritual life is rightly un-derstood and put into practice, that is, as the very expression of our desire to answer the call of grace, then certainly it will never stand in the way of grace. It will guarantee our cooperation with God's grace and leave no excuse for inertia or lazine.ss. Grace do.es not dis-pense with our effort, it renders our effort possible and fruitful. " 252 NEW BUSINESS ADDRESS Please send all renewals and new subscriptions to: REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS 3115 South Grand Boulevard St. L~uis 18, Missouri Sisters' Re!:rea!:s--V Thomas Dubay, S.M. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE RETREAT MASTER ]F it is possible to assay the general mind of the sisters as expressed in their thousands of answers and observations given in this re-treat study, the present writer would be inclined to point out the subject matter of this article, the retreat master himself, as consti-tuting what they consider the single, most-imporant element covered in the survey. The sisters often cast this general impression into a concrete mold. Observed one sister: There is one order whose technique I prefer over the others and one whose method I like least. Yet the best retreat master I ever had was from the latter! The man makes the 'retreat master, not the method! Time and time again the sisters retur~ in their comments to the retreat master, his message, his methodology, and especially his qual-ities or lack of them. And yet we frankly grant that we approach this most difficult of the subjects treated in the survey with consider-able diffidence. It is difficult because it deals with persons, not mere things, But there is nothing like the truth, anO so we will plunge in. QUALITIES In order to ascertain what qualities the sisters especially looked for in their retreat masters, the following question was placed before 'them : Among the following characteristics of ~a retreat master would you put the number 1 before the one you appreciate most, a 2 before the next in order, etc. to the last: __experience ._._~sense of humor genuine sanctity __theological learning ~kind manner ~practicality Further comment: (spice provided) Unlike their modus aqendi in the other survey questions, the sisters did not here mention man.y new qualities in the blank spaces. Simplicity, humility, and interest in work were noted twice, while the following qualities were mentioned once each: clarity, sweetness and patience, sincerity, .understanding of women, average speaking ability, and intelligence. In order to differentiate as finely as possible the varying degrees of importance, which were attached to the qualities contained, in 253 THOMAS DUBAY . Reuiew for Religious the questionnaire, three points were given to th'e quality eachsister first selected, tWO points to the second, and one point to the third. In parentheses are indicated the number of times each characteristic w'as given first choice. Genuine sanctity . 1481 (414) Practicality . 786 (100) Experience 693 (71) Theological.learning .496 (63) Kindness . 360 (23) Sense of humor . 'i. 225'(10) As can be easily seen, there is really no contest for first 'place. The very fact that gefuine sanctity received more first place votes than all other characteristics put together clearly demo~astrates the fact that sisters want their retreat masters to be men of God before ;Ill else. Practicality is rated as a little more important thar~ experiehce, while knowledge of theology is given the nod over kindness and a sense of humor. The reader may be interested in comparing tile above rating of qualities with the various comments the sisters have made (or will make) in other articles of this series. The correlation 'is significantly high, We are thus rendered all the more certain that our survey has accurately captured their collective mind. We will give typical excerpts of the sisters' further comments according to tee alphabetical order in which the qualities .were listed on the survey form. Experience-- [I select experience] because if he has survived in this type of work, he should be" good.' Father, this is a hard one. They should all be first. A retreat master need not have years of experience in order to conduct a successful retreat: Sometimes those with most experience can be very dry and not at all practical. By ekperience I would understand his dealing with people, not the number of retreats he has conducted. I take by experience You mean with souls and religious life. I also appreciate it when he. makes [sic] a spade a spade and leaves nff loop holes for if's or ,but's. Genuine sanctity-- It has been my conclusion that the best thing any retreat master has to give is his own personal example. The convictions with which he approaches his own spir-itual life necessarily,shdw through his efforts to instruct-.others and in this lies his greatest appeal at least for me. 254. September, 1956 SISTERS' RETREATS--V The personal holiness of the retreat master is by far the most impoltant characteristic. "We thunder what we are" and I think this is particularly true of retreat masters. A priest who says Mass slovenly, and has a worldly manner, etc., can hardly expect his hearers to be "refOrmed" or uplifted in spirit regardless of how perfect his con-ferences may be. A genuine saint might be a very poor retreat master, if he is unable to express himself effectively~ and lacks the theological learning necessary to instruct and guide others to sanctity. Experience and practicality should help a retreat master in making the best use of the short time ;it his disposal to cover the necessary points. Sanctity is most important, however, because without it, the insincerity" would be obvious and detract from the effectiveness of'tl~e speaker. Of all the retreats I have made, three are outstanding and have affected my spiritual life most, as far as I can judge. In each case it was the personal sanctity .of the retreat master that gave these retreats their form and impetus. . A doer of the wo~d as well as preacher carries more weight than any other quality [ know. Sometimes the good effects are lessened by a discovery" that Father preaches but does not live what he advises. The tirlge of pharisaism is usually detrimental. A genuine saintly retreat master by his very presence is a light to the beholder: his example gives inspiration, and a desire to be like him and draws or attracts the at-tention of the listener. His teaching is naturally as be lives: therefore very ac- Ic elpiktaeb tloe fbeye al ltlh oart mthoes tr eotfr ethaetsm m.aster is really doing what he is asking us to do. Sanctity radiates a something that neither intelligence or humor can replace. I've made retreats given by saintly men after which I was ready to sign up with a Foreign Legion or for China if I were asked to .do sd. If a man is genuinely holy, the rest doesn't matter. If God has thrown in a sense of humor, the man's mighty lucky'. Father, many sisters lead deeply spiritual lives and we are not so interested in your learning as such, as we are in knowing that you firmly live and believe your doc-trine. We want you learned but in the end it is your own spiritual life that tells. Many retreat masters fail to stress holiness as intimate union with God. We thirst for the fountains of living water. We want solid doctrine. We want you to fire us' with enthusiasm. We are not bored or critical when you speak. We are intent upon gaining a spiritual lift. Don't apologize for repeating the same material. We are not looking for novelty. If we knew you prayed out all your meditations be-fore Christ in the Blessed Sacrament, we would have great faith in your spoken words. I have watched 4.8 retreat masters come and go, and observed the sisters,, making retreats, heard their reactions, attended conferences when possible and there is one answer: personal sanctity. Kind manner-- One who is kind and understanding in confession--and who asks. if there is any-' thing else on your mind. Sometimes tha't last question is just what one needs! I think if a retreat master has real genuine sanctity and a kind manner, whatever else is lacking God will supply the rest. Please don't close the slide or glee absolution before sister has told her story and received some satisfaction. I am not referring to a scrupulous soul. 255 THOMAS DUBAY "Reoieto for Religio~ PracticalitF-- I like a retreat master who can "talk" to us and be practical in the applications he makes. A clear cut set of ideas is what I always hope to find in a retreat. A retreat master who sets down principles to live our daily lives by and who makes us toe the mark and set out with new determination to seek perfection with God's help d~es a greatest ot: services. Some seem to avoid the practical problems of religious life. They don't get down to the core of the matter, even in discussing the vows. Make them practical! Not the extraordinary, once in a lifetime act of obedience, but the everyday type, the everyday needs of each vow. Occasions of sin, etc. Most Of us cduld actually write a volume on the theory of sanctity. It has been well explained, but maybe we could have more practical hints to help us practice what we .know. Sense of humor-- A good sense of humor in a retreat master makes for a good retreat. The dry kind never appeal to me. A retreat to me, is a joy, not a dry thing'. A sense of humor is O.K., especially on a very hot day to keep you awake, but Sacred Scripture should not be used to make fun. By sense of humor I understand having a proper evaluation of things, ability to see,and enjoy a joke~not necessarily "full of jokes." Theological learning-- The choice of I and 2 is a difficult one for the "Spirit breatheth where He wills." However, in the analysis of problems, judicious decisions to be made. delicate situ-ations to handle and the like the educated theologian has much to offer. A certain confidence is generated. God can ~use a stick to work wonders. I think all of these necessarily link together because theological learning could not be passed over to some of us without sanctity, experience, practicality, and a sense of humor. We can really presume en~ough theological learning in any religious set aside to give retreats to nuns. A real absence of theological learning would be worse than an absence of sanctity--but a lot of learning carries small weight with nuns with-out genuine holiness behind it. In the last analysis it is only holiness as concretized in another person which can inspire. But sanctity lending weight to incomplete or misapplied doctrine can do harm. General comments-- This is difficult to answer because he needs them a11, at least in some degree~ Nuns like humility in a retreat master, but not a "scared" attitude or one of"'you-know- it-all-already--what can I tell you" attitude~ We do not know very much. He should sound convinced. A sister can tell whether a retreat master is giving.a retreat merely because of duty or whether he honestly loves the sisters and wants to help them advance along 256 September, 1956 SISTERS~ RETREATS--V the road to perfection, understanding their problems no matter how small they may be. Fatherly is the characteristic I like best of all. One to whom you can speak with ease, knowing and realizing that he has your interest (souls) at heart. Very difficult to decide--would like to have all in one. , One final word on the qualities of the retreat master. As has been indicated in a p~evious article, sisters, teaching in college lay a heavier emphasis as a gioup on their need for theglogy. The' writer noted the same stress here on the importance of theological learning in the retreat master. Among the var, ious qualities of the retreat master, a knowledge of theology is the only one that received an emphasis that was noticeably different according to the work in which' the sisters en, gag~d, DEFECTS Often enough pointing out deficiencies is little short of,.unpleas-ant, and it so happens that our present task is decidedly such. How-ever, St. Thomas speaks of fraternal correction as a spiritual alms, an act of charity. For that reason and because the sisters so intended their observations in a lovely spi'rit of combined kindness and frank-ness, we move with less hesitation to the business at hand. The question dealing with defects was worded as follows: What characteristic do you dislike most in a retreat master? Please place hum- . bet 1 before the one you dislike most, etc. Further comment : t No suggested defects were offered to the sisters. The writer feels that more objectivity was thus secured for the reason that a defect would have to make a considerable impression on a sister if she was to be able to recall it unaided. It would have had to be real. This "no suggestion" technique gave rise on the other hand to a ~wide'variety of noted failings. These we have tried to reduce to common categories as far as possible, but accuracy forbade too drastic a reduction. Hence, the sizeable list below. After each obs.erved defect, is given the number of tirffes it was mentioned. The figure in parentheses indicates the number of times the failing was listed as "disliked most." Statements under each heading are characteristic ways in which the sisters styled the defect. Reading conferences an~t meditation expos~.s . 176 (83) 257 THOMAS DUBAY Review for Religious Reading the retreat--slave to notes--reading entire conference--r~ading notes in-stead of talking. Lack of interest . 93 (28) Sense of boredom (I'm here because of obedience)-~cold, factual 16resentation-- "job attitude"-~a no interest attitude-~-doing something assigned and no mor~-- listless, sleepy, dull. , Conceit . 81 (35) Desire to make an impression~know-it-all attitude--attracts to himself--better-than- thou attitude-~c0cksureness--aloofness---ccnstant reference to himself-~go-tism. Verbosity . 71 (15) Long and rambling--talks and talks and says nothing--nev.er getting to the point-- endless repetition --- d0esn't keep to the schedule--long windedness. Sarcasm, ridicule .¯ . 68 (31) Making fun of problems of sisters of other communities--rididule of superiors-- sarcastic manner--sarcastic approach. ,Joking manner . . 59 (19) Too many jokes--keeps retreatants in an'uproar-~clowning~trying to be funny --a joker. Impracticality . 57 (12) Examples that don't fit o~ur work-~-prlnciples without examples---out-dated. Severity . : . 56 (13) Hell fire and brimstone gloomy--fills with fear rather than love--harsh---blunt expres,sions--six days of scolding. Confessional defects . 50 (9) Impatient.-not available--fast--harsh-~curt--not helpful~talks too loud--no in-terest in the Confessional--indifference to problems. Delivery defects . 47 (11) Talks too fast--inaudible--shouting, ranting-r--muttering, indistinct too slow in .speech--hilting, hesitating---cannot heat him. Superficiality ' .42 (5) La~k of material to communicate--superficial flippancy--shallow--greats retreat lightly--too many ideas .at one time--lightnes~ of treatment--banality lack of theological basis--ignorance theologically unsound. Emotionalism and dramatic manner . . 40 (8) Oratorical---excessive emotion--flowery langfiage--sentimentalism in choic~ of poems, prayers, etc.--too many gestures--unnecessary play on words. Lack of preparation . .,. . . 40 (15) Unpreparedness---lack of organization--lack of immediate preparation. 258 September, 1956 SISTERS' RETREATS--V Excessive intellectuality .". . . 39 (15) Subjects too deep--explainer of theology too philosophical--theological learning' --bookish conferences--high sounding explanations~ Critical spirit in general .3.4. .(10) Chip on the shoulder---critical spirit--pet grievances---critical toward his own corn: re.unity or supenors-~constant scolding-~criticism of sisters studying for degrees--, Cynical" spirit. Lack of sense of humor .: . . . 34 (10) Too serious--gloomy--never a sense of humor. Critical spir'it toward sisters .3.1. (6) Belit'tling nuns--atti.tude that religious are frustrated-~-' unfriendly toward our com-munity-~ critical toward sisters--lack of respect for religious women--making fun of nuns-~critical of our rule, constitutions, and customs--says he dislikes giving retreats to sisters. Worldliness .~. . .~ . 29 (7) Lack of spiritual depth--too l~lasi--play boy type~lacks ho!iness-~easy going-- selfish. Narration of personal experie,nces . 26 (8) Too much personal reference--talking about what they have done-~-~introducing himself and his beloved relatives --- details of family history. Lack of kindness .,. .25 (5) o Harsh, unkind, especially in the confessional--unapproachable--unsympathetic. - Condescension toward sisters . 21 (4) Acting as though we can't understand him--talking down to women-~condescend-ing toward nuns-~belittles the intelligence of nuns and hence waters, down doctrine --treats sisters as beginners in the spiritual life, ' Negative approach .1.5. (4) Too much sin, no love--stressing the negative--emphasis on God's justice. Lack of understanding .1.4. (1) Doesn't understand human nature--lack of understanding of nuns and their problems. In or, der neither to prolong our list beyond due m~asure nor to deny the sisters' views full recognition, we will treat the remaining de-fects in paragraph form and indicate only the total number of times each failing was mentioned. Defects in examples (lack .of, exag-gerated, too many), 14; narrating faults~and scandalous stories re- ~arding other religious, 12; mannerisms and idiosyncrasies, 12; brev-ity, 12;language defects (crude, coarse, slang, grammatical errors), 11 ; nervous and timid ' (restless, fidgeting), 11 : not looking :at audience, 10; inexperience, 8; apodictic, 8; insincerity (affected sanc- 2:59 THOMAS DUBAY ~ Review /or Religious tity, not practicing what he preaches), 8; lack of originality (espe-cially in illustrations and expressions), 8; too familiar, 8; watering down spiritual life, 7; slovenly at Mass, 6; no theme in the retreat, 5; late for. conferences, 5; too eager to please, 4. Subjects receiving three mentions were vagueness, rigid retreat routine, self-depreciation, effeminacy, and excessi;ce praise of sisters. Those noted twice were curiosity and p~ying, stress on unimportan.t matters, loud speaking in the convent, neglectof the liturgy; and provincialism. A few of the many items mentioned by only one sister were immaturity, use of cliches, preoccupation with a favorite subject, lack of refinement, joking about sacred things, and use of pietistic expressions. We must not fail to note that 208 sisters chose not to answer this question. While we cannot be sure just what their reasons may have been, it seems likely that some sisters simply could not recall any outstanding defects. Others may have thought it unkind or unappreciative to record defects of their retreat masters. These latter we may admire even though we, do not agree with them. Whatever the reasons may be, more sisters abstained from replying to this question than abstained from any other. In other questions thus far treated in this series of "articles, .we have given representative excerpts from the sisters' further comments, but for the present question any attempt to be really representative would far exceed the bounds of one article. We will, therefore, limit ourselves to excerpts characteristic of some of the more-frequently mentioned defects. Reading notes-- [ also do not like for the retreat master to read his conferences. He may wish to refer to notes,, but he should have his material so well at his finger tips that he cari deliver it without reading. Some are far from interesting. It is a real penance to sit through six days of listening and straining while someone drones away from some notebook. The only real dislike is toward the retreat master who rea,ds all his talks. I don't say he can't have notes, etc., but the reading of entire lectures and meditations has simply no effect. I'd rather ten minutes of a straight talk. Lack' of interest-- The worst fault is perhaps an attitude of mere tolerance of this job of giving nuns a retreat. The sooner it's over the better! Sisters look forward to their annual retreat with eager anticipation for months, and most of them really do want to progress in the spiritual life. It is a big dis-appointment when they have to listen to a retreat master who apparently does not care for this type of work. 260 September, 1956 SISTERS" RETREATS--V Conceit-- One who calls attention to himself --- the 'T'--more than necessary in conferences. Shows off his intelligence and forgets retreatants also have some. Sarcasm-- Sarcasm and ridicule of women in general and of riuns in particular. Critical negativism-- If there is any observation I should like to make it is this: whatever you can do to dissuade retreat masters for sisters from flavoring their conferences, meditations, and talks with stories exemplifying the ¢ricities and quirks of sisters--usually these apply to only a relatively few--please do . There is nothing so devas-tating and So harmful, it seems to me, than just, that t~;pe of story. If our youth-~ ful entrants grow cynical, distrustful, perhaps even weak in their vocation, may it not be because of the unwise, imprudent choice of illustrations chosen by retreat masters? True, there are odd sisters, but for every odd one, there are at last eight or more sensible, normal ones. Why select the queer and rarely allude to the truly noble and fine in every sense' of the words? Young people are shocked, and rightly so, at the strange things they sometimes hear. "It may~ be that retreat masters wish to be entertaining, amusing. But at what a cost! Ours is an age in which reverence is fast wanifig. Couldn't it help to a restoration' if retreat masters were occasionally more reverent? Tendency to overemphasize the fact that disagreements and petty jealousies do occur in religious life. We know they do, but there are plenty of sisters who are outstand-ing examples of beautiful si?terly charity as well as communities ,where the spirit of charity is outstanding. Joking manner-- What the sisters need is practical help toward sanctity . . : , but too often the" maste? uses the shell of the pulpit to reflect Father Retreat Master instead of the will of God to his listeners. This is especially true of the "joker" who uses the time for his stories and leaves the sisters with nothing to take with them except mem-ories of his cleverness. Severity.--- Pounding, scolding, and "yelling," though I don~t mind being told the truth,--- but not so loud! Lacl~ of understanding~ Sometimes the retreat master forgets that the sisters have more to do than just say their prayers. He should look into the entire picture and help both'subject and superior. Some retreats the subject gets all the corrections, and then sometimes the superior is all to blame. Why not lead all to God by charity, patience, and a. kind understanding of our difficulties? I think community life is a far happier and "homey-er" state than some retreat masters imply. After 29 years of it, under 16 different superiors, I can say I've never lived in a house where happiness and virtue didn't far outweigh human failings and "blue Mondays."--(I'm a realist, not an optimist!) 261 THOMAS DUBAY We now have the happier task of noting a few of the unsolicited compliments rciany of the sisters paid their retreat masters. To neg-lect these and dwell on defects alone would be to give the reader a badly distorted' picture of the whole situation. As is usu~ally the case in human affairs, all is neither black nor white. Among the favorable observations made, the following are characteristic. Most retreat masters are sincere, earnest, and holy. We can make allowances for lack of absolute perfection. If a retreat master is sincere and works hard I¯can't dislike much in him. I have had none whose characteristics made me.lose the value of retreats. I never really thought about this [defects], for I can truthfully say and I thank God for it, I enjoyed every one of my retreats. I learned something every time, betause I was looking for something. I have never had a dislike for a retreat master. I see in him God's messenger for my soul, who will only do his best to bring me nearer to God. I have observed no serious undesira~01e characteristics. Actually I have liked every retreat and every retreat master in my twenty years in religion. These very minor dislikes are:mentioned only to indicate how trivial are the things we let get between us and the message of the retreat. Heavens! I don't know--I've never stopped to think. I always figure the poor man is doing a job that's hard enough without our being critical; He's out to help us and we ought to help him to help us. I'm told, '~It's easier to criticize a retreat master than to be one." Most retreat masters have the necessary characteristics requisite for such important work--God bless them! And we might add: God bless these'sisters! both those who in fraternal charity pointed out defects and those who in the same charity saw none to, point out. OUR CONTRIBUTORS JOSEPH F. GALLEN is professor ~f canon law at Woodstock College, Wood-stock,, Maryland. SISTER M.TERESITA is stationed at the Holy Family. Motherhouse, 890 Hayes Street, San Francisco, California. P. DE LETTER is a member of the faculty of St: Mary's Theological College, Kurseong N. E. Ry., India. THOMAS DUBAY teaches philosophy at the Notre Dame Seminary, 290l S. Carrolhon Ave., New Orleans, Louisiana. 262 ( ues .ions and Answers [The following answers are given" by Father Joseph F. ~allen, S.J., professor of canon law at Woodstock College. Woodstock, Maryland.] I am guiding a young man who is entering our own institute. He casu-ally remarked to me that his family wanted him to sign over his mor3ey to his brothers and sisters before entrafice. By careful questioning I learr~ed that his money amounted to several thousand dollars. Should he sign over th~s money to others before his entrance? A renunciation'is the giving away, the gratuitous, abdication of the ownership of property. An obligation is any act by which own-ership is lessened, rendered less secure, or impeded, e. g., putting up property as security for the debts of others. Can. 568 renders both illicit and invalid any renunciation or obligatmn placed on the prin-cipal of his property by a novice. The canon applies only to the noviceship, but it" is contrary to the spirit of this same law for a renunciation or obligation to be placed on the property of a candi- .date during the postulancy or before entrance becafise of the inten-tion of entering religion. The purpose of c. 568 is to protect the novice's right to. leave religion and to prevent him being, deterred from doing so because he had given away his property. This reason applies equally to the time before the noviceship. Therefore, postu-lants and candidates should in practically every case be dissuaded from any renunciation or obligation. 'The professed of simple vows may give away the income on his property even after first profession. He c6uld later ask the Holy See for permission th give away all or part of the principal of his property, if there should be real need of this; and the solemnly professed will have to give away all his prop-erty at the renunciation effective at solemn profession. Relatives are not often selfless in a case of thi~ nature. It is also at least becoming for those in or approaching the state of perfection, if they are to give away any property, to follow the counsel of perfection, which is not to give to relatives but to give to the poor. A postulant was in danger of death. Could he have been admitted to the profession that is ~ermiffed to novices in danger of death.'? A plenary indulgence in the form of a jubilee is attached to the profession permitted to novices, and this profession also requires ad-mission by a higher superior, the superior of the novitiate house, or the delegate of either. This profession is restricted to novices and" 263 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Revidw [or Religious may not be granted to a postulant. However, canon law does not forbid professed religious, novices, and postulants to make private vows (c. 1307, §' 2). Such vows are most rgrely advisable for them, and should never be made without consulting a confessor who is prudent and sufficiently conversant with the habitual state of soul of. the subject. There would rarely be any reason for opposing a private vow by a postulant in danger of death. Therefore, the postu-lant in danger of death can be instructed that he may, make the vows of the institute completely of his own volition. There is no ad-mission in this case on the part of superiors, and the indulgence is not attached to this profession. The essential effect of the profession granted to novices is .attained, i. e., the greater oblation of oneself to God and the co.nsolation of the postulant. In this case also, the or-dinary formula of profession of the institute "is to be used but with-out any determination of time. The implicit duration of the vows is until the postulant zecovers his health. If he does, the vows cease; and he is in exactly the same state as if he had taken no vows what-soever. Cf. Wernz-Vidal, III,.De Reli~liosis, 258-59, note 71. m32-- Is it canon law or merely our own constitutions that forbid the assign-ment of any but exempla, r¥ religious to the novitiate house? Is it always possible to observe this prohibition? Can. 554, § 3, commands higher superiors to assign only ex-emplary religious to novitiate houses. The evident reason is the in-fluence that the lives of the professed.can exert on the novices. The sense of this law is that religious who are not exemplar.y must not be assigned for habitual residence to the house in which the novitiate is located. The code presumes that ,only the master and his assist-ants will reside in the novitiate itself. In clerical institutes the same prescription of the code extends t6 houses of study. Lay i~astitutes should be directed by the same principle with regard to the houses where the professed of temporary vows reside during studies. Every effort is to be made to observe this law, of the code, but it is quite often impossible in practice to send a refractory religi0us to any house except the novitiate house. The religious' at times has to be removed from contact with externs, and even more frequently he or she simply has to be sent to a very large community. Religious of this type can make life impossible for a smaller community. In cases ¯ of this nature, superiors are to strive tO observe the purpose of the law by preventing such religious from having a harmful influence. on the novices. ' 264 September, 1956 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 33 ¯ Must the nov;t;ate be located at the residence of the superior general or prov~ncla~? Neither canon law nor the practice of the Holy See in approv-ing constitutions demands that the novitiate be located at the resi-dence of the superior general or provincial. Article 88 of the Normae of 1901 contained the self-evident prescription that the novitiate wasoto be located at the place most suitable for the formation of the novices. The supervision of the higher superior can be more readily exercised when he resides at the novitiate, but the same purpose can and should be attained by more frequ.ent visits to the novitiate. --34--- Must we admit to the novlceship one who has been approved in the canonical examination of the local ordlnary~ and ~s it of" obligation that this examlnafi6n be made outside the clolster7 The canonical examination prescribed for institutes of women by can. 552 .is not admission to the noviceship or first temporary or perpetual~profession but a prerequisite for a licit admission. There-fore, a subject, who has been approved in this examination may be dismissed, excluded from further professions, or have her time of postulancy, noviceship, or temporary vows prolonged by the com-petent higher superior: The examination is to take place outside the cloister of both orders and congregations, but .any just or reason-able cause (c. 604, § 1) will suffice for holding the ~examination within the common cloister of congregations, i. e., institutes of simple vows." What is to be done ff in giving Holy Communion at the grille a Host hlls within the papal cloister of nuns? A priest may enter the cloister to pick up the Host, or a nun may pick up the Host with the paten, a clean piece of paper, or'her fingers And either consume it, if she has not already co'mmunicated, or give it to the priest. The place where the Host had fallen is after-wards to be washed by a nun, and the water is to be thrown into the sacrarium. Cf. Fanfani, De Religiosis, 460; J. O'Connell, The . Celebration of Mass, 242; De Amicis, Caerernoniale Parochorum, 181; De Herdt, Sacrae Liturgiae Praxis, II, n. 188. --36-- I asked a priest to say a votive Mass of the Annunciation of the Bless- 265 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Review for' Religious ed Virgln Mary. He told me he was not allowed to do so. What is the reason for this? Only the Masses for which permission is expressly given may be said as votive Masses of the Divine Persons, the Blessed Virgin, and the angels. This permission is verified when the Mass 'is listed as a votive Mass in the missal ~r when directions are given in the. Mass, usually after thi~ gradual, for saying it as a votive Mass. The votive Masses of the Blessed Mother universally permitted., are the five Masses of Our Lady for Saturdays according to the season, Immacu-late Conception, Seven Dolors, and Immaculate Heart. All the Masses of the Blessed Virgin in the Masses for Certain. Places may be used as votive Masses, except that of the Expectation of the Birth of Our Lord (December 18), but only in places where the festal Mass is permitted. Particular dioceses or religious institutes can also have indults to say some other Masses of the Blessed Virgin as votive Masses. A votive Mass may be said-in honor of any canon-ized saint whose name is inscribed in the Roman Martyrology, in its~approved supplements, or in tlhe calendar approved by the Holy See for any diocese, religious order, or congregation. Votive Masses may also be said for the various necessities contained in the second series of votive Masses of the missal. Cf. 3.O'Connell, "T'he Cele-bration of Mass, 68-73. --37m What is thb meaning of lay brother and la~/sister? When found, different classes of religious in the same instittite are commonly those of clerical religious and lay brothers, teaching brothers and lay brothers, choir nuns or sis~'ers and lay sisters. Lay brothers and lay sisters are sometimes called coadjutor, coadjutrix, auxiliary, and converse religious. The Latin n.ame for their class is conversi(ae). A lay brother or sister is not simply a. lay religious. All religious wo'men are lay religious, Since a lay religious is one not destined for, the priesthood. Lay brothers can be had in ~i male in-stitute in which all, the members are lay religious, e. g., in a congre-gation of teaching brothers, The class of lay brother and lay sister is distinguished ,by the following notes. There are two juridical classe's of members of distinct rights 'and obligations in the institute. The lay brother or sister is destined for domestic, manual, and tem-poral la.bors, while to the other class appertain the priestly ministry, teaching, nursing, and the formation of postulants, novices, and prbfessed. The lay brothers and sisters have no part in the govern-ment of the institute, which is reserved to the other class. Therefore, 266 September, 1956 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS they cannot be voted for or appointed to any office; nor do they have a vote in any chaptbr, general, provincial, or local. In virtue of c. 526, lay sisters have a vote on prolonging the term of the ordinary confessor; but this is.not a matter of government. ~38~- We prolonged the temporary vows of a junior professed for three more years'. May we admit him to perpetual profession before the ex-plratlon of these three added years? By canon law both the postulancy and the noviceship may be prolonged but not longer than six months. This prolongation ma~ be made even if the duration of,the postulancy and noviceship is longer than the six months and the year prescribed by canon law. Some constitutions restrict prolongation, e. g., by forbidding an tension Of more than three months to a prescribed post~lancy of nine months or to a noviceship of two years. Canon law also per-mits a prolongation of temporary vows for' three years but forbids that the whole time of- any case of temporary profession, without an indu.lt from the Holy See, be more than six years. If an institute has five years of temporary vows, they are prol6ngable-only for a year; if six, they may be prolonged only by an indult from the Holy See. Prolongation of any of these probationary states is to be avoided as far as possible by a system of reports to the highe[ superior and the prompt instruction, counseling, and admonishing of the unsatis-factory subject. Prolongation is rarely found to be a satisfactory expedient except in a case such as that of health. A prolongation of any of these probationary states does not have to be made for the frill time permitted by law. Any of them may be prolonged for days, Weeks, months, and the temporary pro-fession for one or two years. ,Whether the prolongation has been made for the full time allowed or any lesser period, the competent higher superior may admit a subject who has proved himself satis- . factory before the expiration of such a period. --39m What ,is the difference between the canonical impediments that' make a noviceship ,invalid and those that render it merely illicit?. An impediment to the noviceship is a circumstance affecting a per.son that would make his novi'ceship either invalid. (diriment im-pediment) or merely illicit (merely prohibiting impediment). All religious' institutes are' obliged by the impediments of can.~ 542. Some 267 QUESTION~AND ANSWERS Review f~r" Religious institutes have additional impediments of their own constitutions. All laws of the code oblige immediately under sin. Their vio-lation is consequently a sin, at least, objectively. The common ef-fect of law is to produce a moral obligation. A law produces no other effect uialess this is certainly stated in the law. For example, ' some laws enact'a canonical penalty, such as an excommunication against a Catholic who attempts marriage before a non-Catholic minister (c. 2319, § 1, 1"). In the present inatter, a law produces only the common effect of a moral obligation when it is a merely prohibiting impediment. To be also a diriment impediment, the law must state certainly, either explicitly or implicitly, that it is an invalidating law. This i~ done explicitly by the phrases that the person is incapable of making a valid noviceship or ~afinot be validly admitted to the noviceship. Implicitly the same effect would be ex-pressed by stating that the circumstance was a diriment impediment or that no noviceship could exist because of the circumstance or by requiring a circumstance for a noviceship or a novice to exist. Invalidating ecclesiastical laws are-concerned only .with juridical acts. These are acts that effect the acquisition, change,~nd loss of rights and ol~ligafions, such as contracts, marriage, and religious pro-fession. It is impossible to invalidate a simple act of disobedience; but marriage, since it produces the rights and obligations of husband and wife, can be invalidated. Let us suppose that a religious pro-fession is invalidly made. The invalidating law does not and can-not annihilate the physical enyity of the act of l~rofession; nor can it annul the moral entity of the act, i. e., that the act was or was not knowingly and thus sinfully made contrary to law. However; the act of profession would otherwise have produced the rights and ob-ligations of the religious state. The' p.recise effect 0f the invalidating law is tO annul these rights and obligations. The one who made the profession is not a religious and h~i's none of the rights and obliga-tions of a religious. The juridical effect of a valid noviceship is to make the subject capable under this" aspect of a valid religious pro-fession; a diriment impediment not dispensed annuls this capability. Inculpable ignorance excuses from the sin but not from the invali-dating effect of a Violation of such laws. Ignorance would excuse even from the invalidity of a particular law when such a law states that ignorance has this effect (c. 16, § 1). None of the invalidating laws on the religious state admit ignorance as an excuse from the invalidating effect. ¯Religious should faithfully observe all the laws of their institute 268 $eptember, 1956 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS and especially of the Church, but the invalidating laws are to be even more carefully studied and most strict~ly observed.Very serious consequences can arise from negligence in this matter, since the in-validating laws on the religious state can quite readily cause a chain of invalidity in the institute; For example, an invalid noviceship makes all subsequent professions invalid, and a house not validly designated as a novitiate house renders all noviceships in that house invalid. These possible cases could be multiplied, and all possible cases appear to have been verified in fact. The care for the observance of. invalidating laws on the religious state rarely falls on subjects or local superiors. It.is the master of novices, higher superiors and' their councilors, and the general and provincial secretary who must take care of the observance of such laws. They should know enough canon law to recognize or at least suspect an invalidating law and they must seek competent advice in any doubtful matter. ~0-- Poverty is a constant, iproblem in our institute. The principal difficul-ties are the use of money.wlthout permission, the very frequent request to use all or part of cjiffs, the obtaining of personal necessities, practlca~ly always of better quality, from seculars, and the obtaining of money from seculars for special purposes, which appear very extraordinary to the other religious. The last two are often solicited, directly or indirectly, by the rel[glous. It is hum[llatlng to realize that this is being done, and es-pecially the last two practices cause difficulties, discontent, and 9radua| loss of observance in quite a few other religious. I am sure that, with the possible exceptlbn of rare and accidental cases, local superiors are cjen~ erous. Are there any law~. that we should add to our constitutions to strengthen the observance of poverty? The principles with regard to such practices and even thespecific practices themselves have often been treated in the REVIEW FOR RE-LIGIOUS. It is a delusion to believe that new or added laws neces-sarily effect a renewed spiritual life. Defective laws,should b~ cor-rected; but the laws of the institute in question, as of so many others that are faced by the same problem, are not defective. The precise difficulty of many religious is that they confine their understanding and practice of poverty to the mere obligation of the vow and .of law. Superiors are to insist on the observance of both the vow\ and the laws on poverty; they are to. remember that it is easier to prevent than to eliminate abuses; and by apt ~nstruction and individual guid-ance they are to strive.to rfiake their subjects realize the purpose of poverty, without which poverty in many cases will be a matter of, 269 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Reoieu~ for Religious ;'what I~can get away with." The purpose of the religious life is the perfection of divine charity, and the primary purpose of the three vows of religion is to remove the chief obstacles that impede the soul from complete,love of God. The princilSal purpose therefore of tt~e vow of poverty is not mere external observance but a detach-ment from external goods that will lead to an increased love of God. Detachment here is the habitual interior state by which one uses, requests, and desires ma'terial things, not for themselves, but only in-sofar as they are necessary or useful for personal sanctification, prog-ress in that sanctification, and work. Permission is a help to the at-tainment of deta~chment, but no assurance of its acquisition. Per- .mission is highly compatible with attachment to the object permitted. It should be axiomatic that religious pove~rty is efficacious only to the degree that it effects detachment. If a religious iS not striving for detachment, poverty is contributing very little to his religious life. This purpose of povery is not commanded under sin; but a religious is grievously deceived if he does not realize that his sanctification, even after profession, is placed principally in matters of counsel. Religious poverty consequently is real and effective only in the degree that it is increasing love of God, detachment from material' things, and the ~ correlative virtues of trust in divine providence, patience, meekness, humility, and the spirit of mortification. A candidate applied for admission~ who had evidently been conceived before the marr[acje of his parents, but the parents married in the C~hurch before his birth. Is he lecjitlmat~? A legitimate child is one either conceived or born of a valid or a putative marriage (c. 1114). It is therefore not necessary that a Child be both conceived and born of such a ¯marriage, but either con-ception or birth is sufficient. This child was born of a valid mar-riage and is consequently legitimate. ¯ If'will be clearer to put the present question in the form of'a case with fictitious names. Irwin, a Gatholic, attemp÷ed marFiacje with an Episcppalian, before an Episcopalian minister. A daughter, Jane, was born to the couple a year later. The marrlacje was ne~;er ¢onvalidated in the Gathloi¢ Church. 'Irwin has always been certain ofthe invalidity" of his marriacje, but Irma has never had a doub~ about its validity. -Jane has olways been a C~athollc and wishes to enter relicjion. Is she lecjitim~te? 270 " September, 1956 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS A child is legitimate if conceived or born °either from a valid or from a putative marriage. A putative marriage is an invalid mar-riage, but at the time of the celebration at least one of the parties believed'the marriage valid. It is sufficient that a non-Catholic party be the one in good faith. (Cf. Vlaming-Bender, Praelectiones Iuris Matrimonii, 45-46; Woywood-Smith, A Practical Commentary, I, 646.) This good faith required in at least one of the parties means that such a party at the time of the celebration either had no doubt about the validity; or, if there was such a doubt, it was proportion-ately investigated. If such anlnvestigation was neglected, the party was not in good faith. The marriage remains putative until both parties are certain of its invalidity. A child either conceived or both while the marriage is putative is legitimate and remains so forever, even though later both parties become certain of the invalidity. A putative marriage can occur, when the invalidating .cause is el}her a defect of consent or a diriment impediment not dispensed. On January 26, 1949, the Code Commission gave an au.thentic inter-- pretation, whose sense is that a .marriage attempted completely with-out canonical form cannot be puta, tive if at least one of the parties is held to c~nonical form. Canonical form consists in the presence of a competent priest and at least two witnesses. As a Catholic, Irwin was held to canonical form; and his marriage with'Irma before an Episcopalian minister was attempted completely without ~canoniCal form. Therefore, the marriage cannot be putative; and Jane is iilegitimate. --43m Does the impediment of a religious profession effect one ~vho left after profe~slon and later wishes to be readmiffed to the, same institute? This diriment impediment of can. 542, 1 °, reads: "Those who ~ire or were bound by religious profession." The language of the canon is absolute and i.s to be understood absolutely. The impediment )herefore is verified in those who. are now bound or at any time in the past were bound by valid religious vows, sOlemn or simple, per-~ petual or temporary, iri the same or a different institute, whet,her an order or a pontifical or diocesan congregation. The iNpediment does not affect , those who were merely novices or postulants in any re, ligious institute, nor novices who were admitted to profession in dan-ger of death, nor finally anyone who was a member of a society of common life without public vows or of a secular institute. How-ever, m~iny institutes have a merely, prohibitive impediment of their own constitutions with regard to.those whd were novices or pos~u~- 271 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS lants in another, religious institute, which some extend also to those who had been nox;ices or postulants in the same religious institute. The impediment is dispensable. Greater care is to be exercised in this case to secure assurance of a religious vocation. The departure from ,,another institute is, generally speaking, a strong argument against the presence of a religious vocation. The petition should give the circumstances and reasons for the departure, i. e., the name of the 6ther institute, of what vows the candidate was professed, how long, and whether the departure was voluntary or by exclusion at the end of temporary vows, by secularization, or dismissal. The reasons for the departure should be given truthfully arid completely. Should novices be separated from the postulants? Canon law does not command the separatioh of the novices and postulants. Constitutions of lay congregations approved by the Holy See after 1901 are based in great part on the Normae of 1901. Article 64 of these Normae prescribed such a separation when this could be conveniently accomplished. Some institutes have such a prescription in their constitutions, due either to the influence of the Nor.maeor to the fact that these institutes believe separation to be more conducive to the religious formation of both novices and postulants. What does canon law command about the place of postulancy? Can. 540, § 1, commands that the postulancy be made in the novitiate ,house or in another house of the institute where the religious discipline prescribed by the constitutions is faithfully observed. The canon does not forbid the distribution of the postulants in many houses of the institute nor the repeated transfer of a postulant from one house to another. Experience, however, 'more than fully dem-onstrates that it is far more preferable for the postulancy to be made , in the novitiate house. It can be taken as a thorotighly sound and general practical principle that the effect o,f separation from the master of novices or postulants is little instruction 6r formation in the religious li~e. A small number of congregations have wisely pre-scrib, ed that the postulants must spend two complete months in the novitiate house before their entrance into the noviceship when the earlier part of the postulancy has been made outside the novitiate house. 272 (Material for this department should ,be sent to: Book Review Editor, REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, West Baden College, West Baden Springs~ Indiana.) THE MIND OF THE CHURCH IN THE FORMATION OF SISTERS. Se-lectlbns from Addresses Given durln9 the Six Regional Conferences and the First National Meeting of the Sister Formation Conference, 19S4-19SS. Pp. 282. Fordham University Press, New York. 19S6. $3.00 This book is another milestone in the Sister Formation move, menL The inspiration of the movement was the address of Plus XII at the first International Congress of Teaching Sisters in September, 1951. The Holy Father dxhorted the ~ sisters to make all of their schools excellent, to make sure that the education of sister teach-ers corresponds in quality and academic degrees to that demanded by the state, and to adapt themselves to new conditions. "You," he added, "must serve the cause of Jesus Christ and of His Church as the world t~oday requires." The movement was inf~rmally laurlched at the Kansas City NCEA convention in 1952 when a ggoup of sisters was authorized .to survey the current status of sister education in the United States. ,The findings of the survey underscored three major problems of sister education: (!) the. needed time for sisters to complete a bachelor's degree program and state certification requirements beford entering the classroom, (2) the resources (financial and academic) necessary for this adeq

Issue 14.1 of the Review for Religious, 1955. ; Review for Religious JANUARY 15, 1955 The Relicjious Life . Pope Plus xII Advice to Superiors . . st. Francis de Sales The Contemplative Life . Mother M. Immaculafa Loncjevlfy of Rellcjious Mother Mary Walsh . A saint's Last Leffer. Sister Josephlna Sister M. Teresffa . John M. Render Book Reviews Ouestions and Answers VOLUME XlV NUMBER 1 RI VII::W FOR RELIGIOUS VOLUME XIV JANUARY, 19 5 5 NUMBER 1 CONTENTS POPE PlUS XII AND THE RELIGIOUS LIFE--Joseph F. Gallen, S.d .3. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS-- 1. Repeating Litany in Community Prayers .1.1. 2. Confession to Other than Extraordinary . 12 3. Privilege to Refuse Requested Indult .1.2 4. Ownership of Matured Bond .1.3. 5. Disposition of Patrimony .'. . 14 OUR CONTRIBUTORS . 14 OUR ADDRESSES . " . 14 ST. FRANCIS DE SALES' ADVICE TO SUPERIORS-- Edward J. Carney, O.S.F.S .1.5. BACK NUMBERS AVAILABLE .2.2. THOUGHTS ON THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE-- Mother M. Immaculata, P.C .2.3 APOSTOLATE OF THE PRESS .2.8. LONGEVITY OF RELIGIOUS WOMEN--Sister Josephina, C.S.J .2.9. MOTHER MARY WALSH~Sister Mary Teresita, O.P .3.1 A SAINT'S LAST LETTER--John M. Render, C.P .4.3. ON SECULAR INSTITUTES .4.6. BOOK REVIEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS-- Editor: Bernard A. Hausmann, S.J. West Baden College West Baden Springs, Iiadiana .4.7 REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, January, 1955. Vol. XIV, No. 1. Published bi-monthly: January, March. May, duly, September, and November at the College Press, 606 Harrison Street, Topeka, Kansas, by St. Mary's College, St. Marys, Kansas, with ecclesiastical approbation. Entered as second class matter danuary 15, 1942, at the Post Office, Topeka. Kansas, under the act of March 3, 1879. Editorial Board: Augustine G. Ellard, S.d., Adam C. E.llis, S.~., Gerald Kelly, S.3., Francis N. Kortb, S.3. Literary Editor: Edwin F. Falteisek, S.d. Copyright, 1954, by Adam C. Ellis, S.2. Permission is hereby granted for quota-tions of reasonable length, ~rovided due credit be given this review and the author. Subscription price: 3 dollars a year; 50 cents a copy. Printed in U. S. A. Before writing to us, please consult notice on inside back cover. Review J:or Religious Volume XIV January--December, 1955 Published at THE COLLEGE PRESS Topeka, Kansas Edited by THE JESUIT FATHERS ST. MARY'S COLLEGE St. Marys, Kansas REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS iS incJexed in CATHOLIC PERIODICAL INDEX 'Pope Pius XII and t:he Religious Lit:e INTRODUCTION --l--HE present great movement of renovation and adaptation of the | religious life has been fostered in an unusually continuous and prolonged manner by the Holy See. This is evident from the congresses promoted in various countries by the Holy See. The norm that must be used to evaluate all ideas, articles, and lectures on the subject is the teaching of the Roman Pontiff, and for this reason the present effort consists of a selection of the statements of Plus XII on the religious life. The compilation is restricted to the utter-ances of the Pope and thus does not include an~i doctrines of authors or statements of the Sacred Congregations or of their officials. There are included, however, some pronouncements of Pius XII that were not made directly and explicitly to or of religious, since it was judged that from their nature these statements applied to religious at least to an appreciable'degree, sometimes also equally and even more in-tensively. All such paragraphs are preceded by an asterisk. The sources of numbers 10 and 39 are clearly stated. All other para-graphs are taken from the Acta Apostolicae Sedis, the first number being the volume, the second the year, and the third the page. --JOSEPH F. GALLEN, S.J. I. ADAPTATION~ ' ¯ *1. "It gives Us, Venerable Brethren, an inward strength, a heav-enly joy, for which We daily render to God Our deep and humble thanks, to see in every region of the Catholic world evident signs of a spirit which boldly faces the gigantic tasks of our age, which with generous decision ik intent on uniting in fruitful harmony the first and essential duty of individual sanctification with .,apostolic activity for the spread of the Kingdom of God." Encgclical Letter, "Summi Ponti[icatus," 3 1 - 19 3 9- 5 5 7. 2. "The new times in which we live certainly demand, also inlspir-itual matters, new undertakings, new works and aids by which we can aptly meet the changed and increasing needs of our age. These, in keeping With the ardor of your zeal, you should not neglect. Labor strenuously to employ more aptly and serviceably every develop-ment of modern times to strengthen the Kingdom of Jesus Christ POPE PIUS XII Review for Reli¢ious at home and to spread it abroad. However, your institute, dear to Us and to you, must ever remain the same, the same in th~ govern-ment by which it is unified, the same in the spirit by which it 'is nourished, the same finally in that burning obedience and devoted reverence by which you are steadfastly and unflinchingly bound to this Apostolic See." Apostolic Letter to the Father General of the Society of desus, 32-1940-295. 3. "But if becauseof special circumstances and its own prudent judgment the Apostolic See should decide to decree anything that may seem new to your institute, you will beyond all doubt accept it with a most obedient mind and realize fully that it will be to your good, not your hakim. Such conduct is urged on you certainly by the obedience due to ecclesiastical authority and also by the eager and ready desire that moves you to accept anything enacted by the same authority, since it would be appropriate to the time and bene-ficial to you." Letter on the Tercentenartl of the Death ofSt. Jane Frances de Chantal, 33-1941-491, 492. *4. "When We examine the beginnings of your society,, this fact stands out and fills Our soul with the greatest joy: there bare never been lacking to the Catholic Church, there are not lacking now, nor will there ever be lacking in the future outstanding and distin-guished men who, realizing and studying the principal needs of their age, eagerly and with their whole soul strive to meet them." Letter to the Society of the Priests of St. Sulpice, 34-1942-94. *5. "The 'Church of today cannot return purely and. simply to the primitive ways of its small initial fold. In its maturity, which is not old age, it keeps its head erect and in its members reveals unchanged the vigor of its youth. It. remains what it has been from its birth, always the same. It does not change in its dogma nor in its eflScacy. It is impregnable, indestructible, invincible. It is immutable, inefface-able by the document of its foundation that is sealed with the blood of the Son of God; yet it advances, it takes on new ways with its growth in years,, it makes progress but without changing its nature, since, in the admirable language of Vincent of Lerin, the religion of the soul must imitate the manner of the body. The body de-velolbs, grows and advances in years yet always remains the same as 4t was . The Church, having already attained its mature mission of universal mother of the faithful, confronted by far greater necessities and duties, would not consent, without being unfaithful to itself, to twist its steps towards the manners of life January, 1955 THE RELIGIOUS LIFE and action of the earliest centuries." Address on the Twenw-Eftb Annioersarg ~ His Epis.copal Consecration, 34-1942-158. 6. "Therefore, since the circumstances existing originally at the time of the foundations ha're changed, there arises the necessity of adapting the constitutions and rules. Even at the time of the pro-mulgation of the new Code of Canon Law, religious orders of great antiquity, to conform their own monastic rules to the laws of the Code and likewise to correspond more to the needs of thi~ age, labored diligently to abrogate many things that were obsolete, to adapt others suitably, and to make useful innovations. They ac-cordingly opened a way to the talents and zeal of their subjects to a new or rather proper plan of action for their labors in the vineyard of the Lord." Apostolic Letter on the Constitutions of the Cistercian Congregation of Casaroari, 35-1943-390, 391. ' *7. "Therefore, We do not hesitate even now, in this second and more formidable conflict, to look on the future with a serene gaze and, We believe, for a greater reason. In fact, the work accomplished in the interval has been deliberately orientated to give the missions the character of native, not foreign, institutions. From this follows the need of native clergy and native sisters and also the principle that the temperament, the traditions and the native customs must remain inviolate in so far as they are in accord with the law of God. The missionary is an apostle of Jesus Christ. He possesses no office of transplanting a specifically European culture to the mission lands. His duty is to render such nations, which sometimes boast a culture of great antiquity, prompt and ready to accept and assimilate the element~ of Christian life and. customs. These easily and naturally blend with any sane culture and give it the full capacity and efficacy to assure and guarantee human dignity and happiness. Catholic natives must be truly members of the family of God and citizens of His Kingdom, without, however, ceasing to remain citizens also of their own earthly fatherland." Address on Missions, 36-1944- 210. 8. "Some conditions must be observed that what We have prom-ised Ourselves may be happily realized and that you yourselves may fulfill Our expectation. Above all else you are to be s~eadfastly faithful to your constitutions and to all the laws of your consti-tutions. If it seems suitable, some things in your order may be changed and accommodated to the new circumstances of.t.he~ age, but anything s.ubstantial is in no way to be touched :and is to stand 5 POPE PlUS XII Re~iew for Religious perpetually, for example, the tertianship, which hasenriched your own interior spiritual lives and has been imitated and adopted by other religious.families." Allocution to the XXIXGeneral Co.ngre- "gatiOn of the Soqiet~/ of Jesus, 38-1946-383. *9. "The sacred liturgy includes divine as well as human elements. The former, instituted by the Divine Redeemer, cannot be changed in any way by men. The human components, however, admit of various modifications as the needs of the age, circumstances and the good of souls may require, and as authorized by the ecclesiastical hierarchy under the guidance of the H01y Spirit." Encyclical Letter, "Mediator Dei," 39-i947-541,542. 10. "This, above all, must be your solemn principle; you are to protect religiously and observe always anything placed by St. A1- pbonsus as fundamental in your ~ocJety. However, .you are to re-flect and study ,attentively whether some changes should be made with regard to the external manner of life and conduct because of the changes of time and place. You will thus avoid any loss o~ damage to the sacred deposit entrusted to you over the long series q.f years?' Letter to Redernptorist Capitulars; Acta et Docurnenta Congressus Generalis de Statibus Perfectionis, I, 23. 11. "The renewal or rather the reawakening of the spirit and life of your institute has led you to the desire of new undertakings in keeping with the changed circumstances and necessities of the time. It should be the heartfelt desire of religioias men to imbue the age in which they live with the soundness of mind of the Gospel and with grace, to win the men of their time to Christ by apt ways and paths. What could be more desirable than such plans, more salu-tary than such works? It is impossible that We should not approve such intentions." Allocution to Fathers of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, 40-1948-551. 12. '.'However, it must be your clear conviction that these greater apostolic works, demanded of you also by modern times, are" not to weaken in any way nor change fundamentally the manner of your religious, life. On the contrary, this is to be imbued and formed W.ith such evangelical spirit that all of you are conspicuous for a prope~ poverty, excel in an attractive simplicity and humility, and.especially that.you persevere in your traditional austere di~ci-pline . You must.also be on fire with the seraphic love of God and of yoh~ neighbor that consumed the patriarch of Assisi through- "6 danuarg, 1955 THE RELIGIOUS LIFE out his life. Only ifl this way and by a spiritual and interior life that daily increases in intensity can your external works be in-spired with the divine strength that overcomes and successfully conquers all earthly difficulties." Letter to the Minister General of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, 41-1949-66. "13. "They [newly ordained priests-] are to learn what our times demand, the needs by which they are tortured, the dangers and diffi-culties they present; and hence are to be trained in all the appropriate methods by which they may more readily overcome these dangers and meet these needs in a way that is vigorous and suited to our times." Motu Pr.oprio on the Pontifical Institute of St. Eugene, 41-1949-166. 14. "As you celebrate the first centenary of the death of your de-vout founder, it is altogether becoming that you should renew and intensify the spirit with which he desired the two religious societies of men and women founded by him to be imbued and formed. You are completely aware of what this demands. You are called upon not only to embrace the evangelical life in a generous spirit, not only to strive zealously and energetically for virtue and sanc-tity, but also according to your ability to show yourselves equal to the needs of the times and to undertake courageously all forms of the apostolate introduced by the present age. In this respect William 3oseph Chaminade gave you most outstanding examples for your imitation." Letter to the Superior General of the Society! of Mary on the Centenar~l of the Death of the Founder, 41-1949-591, 592. "15. "Let it never happen, beloved sons, that the new forms and methods of the apostolate which are today so opportune, espe-cially in localities where the clergy is few in number, should either lie fallow or, for not being properly organized, should not respond to the needs of the Christian people." Apostolic Exhortation, "Menti Nostrae," 42-1950-680. "16. "On these points, Venerable Brethren, We most earnestly arouse you to vigilance." We have no doubt whatever that you will act with prudence regarding the exaggeration, which is found in rfiany, of attachment to the past and of hankering after novelty. This prudence must be wise and watchful that truth alone may emerge victorious when there is question of vefituring on new paths of zeal and effort . Far be it from Us to maintain" that apostolic work should not be in harmony with present-day life or that work,~ now being undertaken should not serve the rieeds 7 ~OPE PIUS XII of our times." 695. Re~iew for Religio~, s Apostolic Exhortation, "Menti Nostrae,' 42-1950- 17. "From this common fidelity and constancy the sacred manner of life of nuns acquired a solid consistency wNch always enabled it to resist inn6vations of any kind more vigorously than institutes of any other regulars or religious of either sex. Within certain proper limits this is undeniably to its credit." Apostolic Constitution, "Sponsa Christi,' 43-1951-8. 18. "On the other hand there are some elements in the life of nuns which are neither necessary nor complementary but merely external and historical, since they certainly owe their existence to the cir-cumstances of former times, which are now very much changed. These, if they are found to be no longer of any use or liable to hinder greater good, seem to have no special reason for being p.re-served. Accordingly, without the least prejudice to any of the native and principal elements of the venerable manner of life of nuns, regarding those that are external and accidental, We have decided to make ~ome considered "and prudent adaptations to present times, which may not only do greater honor to the venerable man-ner of life but at the same time increase its effectiveness." Apostolic Constitution, "Sponsa Christi," 43-1951- I O. 19. "We have been informed that in the sessions to be held dur-ing the week subjects will be proposed to the consideration of religious which undoubtedly meet the needs of the religious life at the present moment, particularly concerning the formation of souls consecrated to God and the apostolic works that should be undertaken. Minds and wills, with the aid of God's grace, are to be so reinvigorated and strengthened that, within the limits of their ability, they are to be equipped to meet the new ways of the times and thespiritual destitution of this age. The reinvigorating of one's life in all its aspects is by no means the same thing as the abandonment or thought-less lack of appreciation for everything accomplished by the very laborious efforts of one's predecessors, which all religious should esteem as the glory and ornament of their own institute. It means rather to ward off the uselessness of an indolent life, to express in personal conduct the noble accomplishments of one's predecessors, earnestly to maintain the standard of spirituality, to exert the ut-most effort to prevent the sacred laws of one's institute from appear-ing as a heap of external and useless rules, whose letter, when the spirit is lacking, kills; it is to make them in fact instruments of danuary. 1955 THE RELIGIOUS LIFE heavenly virtue that those subject to them may be able to conceive an ever higher desire for sanctity and, in imitation of the Apostle St. Paul, may spend their strength to purchase the salvation of their neighbor. If those consecrated to God are to be adapted to the ways of modern times, they are in no way to yield to the demands or senseless persuasion and invitations of the world." Letter An-nouncing the General Congress on the States of Perfection, 43-1951- 25. 20. "When young people hear the statements: 'We must keep up to date' and 'Our efforts must be commensurate with the times,' they are fired with an extraordinary ardor of soul, and if they are serving under the standard of religious militia, they keenly desire to direct the efforts of their future religious undertakings according to this principle. To a certain extent that is proper. For it has often happened that the founding fathers of religious institutes con-ceived their foundations in order to meet the challenge which newly emerging needs were urgently presenting to the Church or her works; and in. this way they harmonized their enterprises with their age. Hence if you wish to walk in the footsteps of your predecessors, act as they acted. Examine thoroughly the beliefs, convictions and con-duct of your own contemporaries, and if you discover in them elements that are good and proper, make these worthwhile features your own; otherwise you will never be able to enlighten, assist, sustain and guide the men of your own time." Address to the Gen-eral Con, gress on the States of Perfection, 43-1951-33, 34. 21. "There are, however, circumstances, and not a few, when you can and ought to accommodate yourselves to the temper and needs of men and the age. Indeed to a great extent this has actually been done, and now the task is being completely and perfectly accomp-lished by y~ur combined counsels and plans. As may be seen from the variety of your undertakings both as individuals and as insti-tutes, you have already initiated many adjustments in schools, in the training of youth, in the alleviation of human misery and in the cultivation and promotion of learning. Hence it must be ad-mitted, and Our affirmation admits of no denial, that a vast amount of energy is even now being expended to meet the altered condi-tions of our era with new and effective resources." Address to the General Congress on the States of Perfection, 43-1951-34. 22. "With regard to the religious habit, choose one that expresses your interior lack of affectation, simplicity and religious modesty. POPE PlUS XII ~Review for Religious It will then be edifying to all and also to modern youth." Apostolic Exhortation to the Ibternational Conoention of Teaching Sisters, 43-1951-741. 23. "The constitutions also, taken in both. their letter and spirit, facilitate and procure for the sister everything that she needs and should do in our day- to be a good teacher and educator. That is evident in the purely mechanical aspect. For example, today in sev-eral countries sisters also, in a becoming manner, ride bicycles ~vhen this is demanded by their work. In the beginning this was some-thing completely new, but it was not contrary to the Rule. It is possible that some points of the horarium, some prescriptions that are only mere applications of the Rule, some customs that corres-ponded, perhaps, to circumstances of the past but now only hinder the work of education should be adapted to the new circumstances. Higher superiors and the genera! chapter shall take care to proceed in this matter conscientiously, with clear-sightedness, prudence and courage and, when necessary, they shall not fail to submit the pro- .posed changes to the competent ecclesiastical authority. You wi~h to serve the cause of ,Jesus Christ and His Church according to the needs of the modern world. Therefore, it would not be reasonable to persist in .usages or ways that impede such service or perhaps even make it impossible. Sisters in teaching and education should be so prepared, so equal to the lofty character of their calling, so cogni-zant with everythingthat youth will encounter and with every in-fluence that they will meet that the students will quickly ~xclaim: We can go to the sisters with our problems and difficulties; they understand us and help us." Apostolic Exhortation to the Inter-national Conoention of Teaching Sisters, 43-1951 - 74 i, 742. 24. "For yourselves, here are Our counsels: in this crisis of vocation~ make sure that nothing in your customs, your manner of life or the ascetical practices of your religious families is an obstacle or a cause of loss of vocations. We mean certain usages which, if ever suited to another cultural context, are out of place today, so that even a really good and courageous girl would find them only an ob-stacle to her' vocation. We cited different examples in Our explana- .tion of last year. To return for a word on the question of dress: the religious habit should always express the consecration to Christ; that is expected and desired by all. In other .respects the habit should be appropriate and in keeping with the demands of hygiene. We could not refrain from expressing Our satisfaction at the fact that 10 danuar~j, 1955 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS during the course of the year a few congregations bad already taken some practical steps in this matter. To sum up: in things that are not essential make the adapyations counselled by reason and well-ordered charity." Address to the Congress of Mothers General, 44- 1952-825. 25. "Your predecessors undertook renowned work for the com-mon good of nations; your obligation today is to undertake it again and again, adapted to present needs and with an ever quick-ening zeal. For your Benedictine Institute can exert today also the salutary force that will ~urni~h a suitable remedy for the violent attacks of evil." Allocution to the Congress of Confederated Bene-dictine Congregations, 45-1953-672. Father Gallen's valuable compilation of papal texts will be continued in our =ext number.--Ed. Ques!:ions and Answers I Is it necessary or correct to repeat the Litany of Loreto three times in. one evening at community prayers? We say this litany as a part of our regular night prayers. Then in October we say the lltan9 before ache ros-ary and the prayer to St. Joseph. On Saturday evenings in some of our. convents the litany is sung. In a small house where it is not sung, we say it a third time on Saturdays--all this in one evening. Is it possible to ful-fill all these obligations with one recitation of the litany? Since the recital of the Litany of Loreto at evening community prayers seems to be a custom rather than a prescription of the con-stitutions, its repetition would seem to be a matter for the general chapter to decide. Unless the chapter would decide otherwise, one recitation of the litany seems to satisfy all the prescriptions of the community prayers: (1) It is recited as part of the regular night prayers. (2) During October it is said before the rosary, which indicates the time when it is said. (3) On Saturdays it is sung, which indicates a quality rather than a repetition. In small houses where there are only a few religious, this quality may be omitted. There is no need of repeating the litany merely because it cannot be sung. 11 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Reoiew [or Religlods --2-- If a sister is not ~t home the day the extraordinary confessor comes to the convent for his quarterly visit, must she still cjo to another confessor besides the or.dlnary confessor? Canon 521, § 1, obliges all religious women to present them-selves to the extraordinary confessor, at least tO receive his blessing, although they need not go to confession to him. But when it is physically impossible for a sister to present herself to the extraor-dinary confessor because she is not at home on the day he comes, her obligation ceases for that visit. She need not go to any other con-fessor but may confess to the ordinary confessor, if that be con-venient. In a despairincj mood and in a confused state of mind, a sister asks her mother cjeneral to obtain for her ~ dispensation from her perpetual vows. The d~rk cloud passes; the s~ster feels better in health ~nd regrets her previous action. Several weel~s later she receives a letter from her mother cjener~l informing her thai" the dispensation has been cjranted. Where does the sister stand now? .Is she dismissed from her concjrecj~- fion before God? Must she return to the world ~cjalnst her own will ~nd. desire? Please explain in detail. In a plenary session of the Sacred Congregation of Religious held on June 9, 1922, the following question was proposed for a solution: "Whether a religious who has asked for an indult of secularization or. a dispensation from simple vows can refuse to accept the indult or the dispensation when he receives notice of it from the local superior, even though the superior general has already issued the executorial decree of the rescript in writing in accordance with canon 56 of the Code of Canon Law?" Having previously considered the opinion of consultors, after mature deliberation, the eminent Fathers decided as follows: "In the affirmative, provided superiors have not grave reasons to the contrary, in which case they should refer the matter to the Sacred Congregation." On the following day, in an audience granted to the Secretary of the Sacred Congregation, His Holiness, Pope Pius XI, approved the solution of the eminent Fathers; and the answer was published officially by the Sacred Cong'regation of Religious under date of August 1, 1922 (AAS. XIV [1922], 501). While prescribing the necessity of acceptance of the rescript of dis- 12 danuar~l, 1955 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS pensation from simple vows on the part of the petitioner, the Sacred Congregation had not set any limit as to the time within which it had to be accepted. Hence, it happened in practice that an individual religious would keep a rescript for weeks and even for months, re-serving to himself the moment of acceptance. Since such a mode of action caused various inconveniences, the Sacred Congregation of Re-ligious found it necessary to determine the time within which the rescript must be accepted or rejected. After some experimentation with regard to form, the following text was incorporated into the body of the indult of secularization or dispensation from vows when new copies were printed several years ago and is now in gen-eral use. "This present rescript shall have no value if it has not been accepted by the petitioner within ten days from the communication received of the execution of the decree." (This information is con-tained in an article by A. Guti~rrez, C.M.F., entitled: "'De Accep-tatione Induli Saecularizationis'" which appeared in Comraentarium pro Religiosis, XXXII [1953], 186-197.) From all this we conclude that the sister is still a member of her congregation, because she never accepted the indult'~ of seculari-zation or dispensation 'from her vows. .--4-- If a religious wlth simple vows receives a $750 government bond as a porf~on of his inherlfance and the bond is permitted o mature so that at' the end of ten years the bond is worth $1,000, does the relicjious keep the' simple ownership of $1,000 or of $7S07 The bond was 9iven with the ex-pressed wish of the donor that if be.permiffed to mature. Does this ex-pressed wish make any difference in the case? The free disposal of the use and usufruct (income) of his prop-erty required by canon 569 of all novices before the profession of first simple vows ~3ermits the novice to add the income to the capital, if he wishes to do so. (See Larraona, Commentarium pro Religiosis, I [1920], 338). ~f he does this, then the added income becomes a part of the capital and may not be disposed of during the lifetime of the religious with simple vows, without special permission of the Holy See. This same disposition of th~ use and usufruct may be made by a religious even after first profession for any additional property which comes into his possession under any title whatsoever (canon 569, § 2). In such a case the religious of his own accord may permit the $750 government bond to mature, so that at the end.of ten years .13 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Revieto for Religious it will be worth $1,000, but he may no longer deduct the annual payments from it, since it has all become a part of his patrimony. In the case in which the donor of the $750 government bond made known his wish that the bond be permitted to mature, the re-ligious has no choice in the matter, as canon 1514 stipulates very clearly that the wishes of the faithful regarding donations and in-heritances are to be carried out most diligently. S A sister of our community received a legacy of $2,800 from her grand-father. As her fathe~ is dead and her mother has only a very small in-come, may the sister, with the permission of her superior, give one half, or at least one third, of this money to her mother for her support, or must the permission of the Holy See be obtained fo thus dispose, of a part of the sister's patrimony? Car~on 583 forbids a religious with simple vows in a congrega-tion to giye away her property during her lifetime without permis-sion of the Holy See. In the present case the Holy See would gladly ~grant the necessary pekmission for the sister to come to the financial assistance of her mother. That permission, however, would have to be asked for. OUR CONTRIBUTORS JOSEPH F. GALLEN is professor of canon law at Woodstock College, Wood-stock, Maryland. EDWARD J. CARNEY is dean of the theological students at De Sales" Hall, Hyattsville, Maryland. MOTHER M. IMMACULATA is abbess of the Poor Clare Monastery, Roswell, New Mexico. SISTER JOSEPHINA is on the faculty of the Boston College School of Education, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. SISTER M. TERESITA is at the mother house of the Dominican Sisters of the Sick Poor, New York City. JOHN M. RENDER teaches English at the Passionist Monastery, Des Moines, Iowa. OUR ADDRESSES We have three different addresses. It would help considerably if all who com-municate with us would note them: 1. Business communications, such as subscriptions, renewals, etc., should be sent to: REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, 606 Harrison St., Topeka, Kansas. 2. Books for review should be sent to: Book Review Editor, REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, West Baden College, West Baden Springs, Indiana. 3. All other editorial communications, such as manuscripts, questions, letters for publication, etc., should be sent to: The Editors, REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, St. Mary's College, St. Marys, Kansas. 14 St:. Francis de Sales' Advice t:o Superiors Edward J. Carney, O.S.F.S. AMONG the writings of St. Francis de Sales are found letters of direction, both to lay people and to religious. In the latter category are many addressed to superioresses of con-vents, giving counsel for difficulties either personal or administra-tive. This advice does not touch on every problem, but it does in-dicate in a general way the manner of meeting some of the situations arising in the superiorship. For the purpose of presentation, excerpts from these letters have been arranged in the following groupings: I--Fundamental Virtues for ~Superiors; II~Emotional Control; III--The Superior's Manner of Dealing with Subjects; IV--The Superior and the Observance of the Rule; V~The Superior and Reception and Profession of Candidates. I-~Fundamental Virtues for Superiors St. Francis de Sales bases spiritual perfection on the virtues of humility and charity. "Humility and charity are the mainstays; all the other ropes are attached to them.''1 Therefore, in his teach-ing the superior ought to strive to acquire these two virtues. Charity always presupposes the state of grace and brings about union with God and the neighbor. It le~lds to a loving trust in divine provi-dence, to the prayer of petition, and to that manner of acting so beautifully expressed by St. Paul as kind, self-effacing, bearing all things, hoping all things, enduring all things. In the ordinary course of events, appointment to the office of superior represents a fulfillment in time of an eternal decree. God not only obliges Himself to give to the one in charge the means of fulfilling the duties of state, but through a faithful instrument He will accomplish His designs. Therefore, every superior should trust in God's loving providence and confidently hope to receive from Him whatever help is necessary. "What a consolation for you that it is God Himself who has made you superioress . . . ! Where-fore, His providence is under obligation to you, on account of its 1The quotations from St. Francis de Sales are taken from the Dora Mackey trans-lations, with minor changes in the mechanics of spelling, punctuation, and capitali-zation. 15 EDWARD d. CARNEY Reoieto for Religious being the disposer of things, to hold you with its hand, that you may do well what it calls you to. Be sure of this, my dear daugh-ter; you must walk with good confidence under the guidance of this good God and not except yourself from that general rule that God who has begun in you a good work will perfect it, according to His wisdom, provided that we are faithful and humble." Neighborly charity is also an important virtue for the superior. It must not, however, lead to a weakening of. authority or to a removal of proper respect. "I do not think there is any practice to which you should pay more attention than to that of most holy charity towards your neighbor, by sweetly bearing with them and lovingly serving them, but in such sort that you take care always to preserve the authority and gravity of a superior, accompanied with holy humility." Commands contrary to the natural inclinations of others are often ifl order. If these are given kindly and graciously, the sub-jects ordinarily will show a better response. "For whereas it is a very hard thing to feel oneself crushed and mortified at every turn, yet the skill of a sweet and charitable mother gets the bitter pills swallowed with the milk of a h61y friendship;" To a superior who had failed somewhat against charity in an effort to establish religious observance, St. Francis de Sales sent this gentle correction: "Your zeal was quite good, .but it had the defect of being a little bitter, a little severe, a little exacting; now we have purified it from this; it will henceforth be sweet, mild, gracious, peaceful, fore-bearing." True charity requires the maintenance of a correct balance be-tween self, God, and the neighbor. This is had through the exer-cise of the virtue of humility, one of the finest qualities to be found in authority. Thus, along with charity St. Francis would have humility as the mark of the superior. "Be~very simple; . . . humble yourself without discouragement; encourage yourself without pre-sumption." The saint at times treats this virtue of humility in the sense of repression of inordinate movements of self. For example, to a superior giving way to impatience amid the trials of dealing with subjects, he wrote: "Gradually tame down the vivacity of your spirit to patience,' sweetness, and affability amid the littleness, childishness, and feminine imperfections of the sisters who are tender with themselves and inclined to be always teasing a mother's ears." Even .personal imperfections in dealing with subjects can be used 16 Januar~t, 1955 FRANCIS DE SALES' ADVICE as a means of acquiring humility. "Our imperfections in treating affairs, whether interior or exterior, are a great subject of humility; and humility produces and nourishes generosity." II-~Emotional Control St. Thomas Aquinas treats the emotions from the standpoint of good or evil. Love, desire, hope, and joy are possible states in one who looks upon circumstances and persons as good. On the other hand, to regard these things as evil gives entrance to hate, aversion, sorrow, fear, and anger. In the exercise of office, a su-perior meets many difficulties, which, though seemihgly evil, can really be considered as good. Fo~ example, an immediate problem in the direction of the community somehow or other represents God's plan, which can have only good as its final end. Furthermore, to dwell on the defect~ of another is to burden oneself with dislike, aversion, anger. To lovenat least supernaturally--is to bring peace and jo.y into one's outlook. The most common emotional problems confronting authority are worry, anger, and discouragement. For their control and also for the cultivation of a spirit of peace and joy, St. Francis de Sales principally recommends, trust in divine providence and love of neighbor. Anxiety and worry may beset the one in charge of the com-munity. This mental state is reducible to the emotion of fear, which arises when. some evil in the environment seems insuperable. By trusting completely in divine providence, the superior will find a remedy; for God always helps, sends His grace, gives aid. "Up to now the anxiety .about direction and the apprehension of your future superiorsbip have agitated you a little and have often made you vary in thoughts; now that you are a mother of so many daughters, you should remain quiet, serene, and always the same, reposing upon divine providence, which would never have placed all these daughters within your arms and in your bosom without having in some measure destined you an assistance, a help, a grace, most sufficient and abundant, for your upholding and support." In general, St. Francis would have the superior careful in the exercise of charge but without anxiety. "Be painstaking, but keep from eager solicitude." He does not, of course, analyze every ty.pe of worry; but be does mention how to avoid it in the making of decisions, and warns lest ufidue concern over personal imperfection and inadequacy interfere with proper direction of subjects. 17 EDWARD J. CARNEY Reoiew t~or Religious The saint points out that in important matters a superior may~ delay giving an answer. "Do not be quick to promise, but ask time to make up your mind in matters of any consequence. This is fitting in order to secure the good success of our affairs and to nourish humility." However, such a manner of acting differs from inde-cision, which comes from a fear of making an error in choice. St. Francis wishes the superior to rely completely on God and, once a decision has been made, to refrain from ceaseless examination on the course chosen. "When you have decided that something ought to be done, walk securely and fear nothing, regarding God as often as you can." "The resolution baying been taken, one should con-tent oneself with this, that on whatever side one turns the affairs of this world, there will always be much to be desired and to be. discussed, so that, after one has formed one's determination, one should not occupy oneself in sighing after the imagination of better things but in properly overcoming present difficulties, which, more-over, we cannot escape without encountering others greater, since every place is full of them." Sometimes a superior is beset by.a feeling of inadequacy. This may arise from many sources; such as, from lack of background or from personal defects in the spiritual life. Besides being a cause of internal worry and discouragement, it may prevent the superior from giving advice or counsel to the subjects. St. Francis de Sales wishes the one in charge of the community to trust in God and not to use personal imperfection as an excuse for omitting instruction to others. "If nobody worked for souls except those who have no difficulty in their exercises and who are perfect, you would have no father in me; we are not to give up consoling others because we are in perplexity ourselves. How many good doctors are there who are far from being in good health, and how many beautiful paintings are made by ugly painters? When, therefore, your daugh-ters come to you, tell them simply and with charity what God may" inspire you with--and do not send them away from you empty." Worry is not always limited to an immediate problem. Often it is anticipatory, even of the very distant future. In most cases, such difficulties never materialize. If they do, they are not as great as expected. Undue care tends to make the imagination overexag-gerate, to face issues not singly, as they generally occur, but in ac-cumulation. Such troubles are harder to bear than those of reality. "And so, my dear daughter, the multitude of difficulties terrified you; and you bad thoughts of giving it all up: meantime, you have 18 January, 1955 FRANCIS DE SALES" ADVICE' found that all is done. It will be the same with all the rest; per-severance will overcome everything." St. Francis de Sales would have the superior ask for grace and help to face each present mo-ment and then leave the future in the hands of God. "The true servant of God is not solicitoUs for the morrow; she executes faith-fully what He wants today, and tombrrow what He wants; and, after tomorrow, what He shall want then." "Our Lord does not will us to ask our annual bread, or monthly, or weekly, but daily. Try to do well today, without thinking of the next day: then on the next day, try to do the same; and do not think of all you will do during the whole time of your office; but go from day to day fulfilling your charge without increasing your solicitude, since your heavenly Father who has care today will have care tomorrow, and, after tomorrow, of your guidance, in proportion as, knowing your infirmity, you hope only in his providence." Yet divine help is not always given immediately or in the way requested. God acts as He sees fit, and the superior must wait His aid with both patience and courage. "But to work well in this business, 'there is needed an un-conquerable courage and the awaiting of the fruit in patience." In many of his directives to superiors, St. Francis de Sales urges sweetness and mildness. This is equivalent to advising con-trol of anger, which arises as a reaction against some hindrance to one's own will. Under its influence one may unduly assert a per-sonal course of action without consideration of the harm done to the feelings of others. For example, improper anger may spring up when a superior sees a subject violating the Rule or guilty of some fault worthy of reproof. St. Francis warns against correc-tion through ill-controlled anger, pointing out that by it the weak may be discouraged and 'that mildness .itself is more efficacious. "But still, as you know, while remonstrating earnestly, you must use love and sweetness; for admonitions have a better effect so; and, otherwise, one might drive away these somewhat feeble hearts." Furthermore, the saint advises the superior to show special atten-tion to those who commit faults and to rely on the help of Christ and of Mary in this task of exercising mildness towards the neigh-bor. "Be .very tender with regard to those who are more imperfect, to help them profit by their imperfection. Bear in ~mind that a very impure soul can attain a perfect purity if well assisted . Note that those who have the greatest number of bad inclinations are those who can reach a greater perfection." "Do not get angry; . . . recognize that our Lord and our Lady, having laid upon you the 19 EDWARDJ. CARNEY Reoiew [or Religious distraction of the house, know well and see that you are disturbed therein; but they do not cease to love you provided that you are humble and trustful." Discouragement, arising when some hoped-for good seems un-attainable, may afflict the one in charge of the community. St. Francis mentions some examples of this trouble. One deals with the impatience of the superior who, wishing the community to ad-vance in the spiritual life too quickly, becomes downcast when im-perfections still remain. Progress, of course, must always be made, but gradually; and minor imperfections do not detract from the essential beauty of a good work. "That there have been-some acts of impatience, immortification, disdain, disobedience, self-love cer-tainly cannot be denied; still, for all that, the substance of the af-fair does not cease to be good and according to God's will. All the defects which occur in a good work do not spoil its essential goodness." Another source of discouragement to superiors is the criticism directed against them. St. Francis de Sales counsels against too great sensitivity, pointing out that the occasions which give rise to com-plaint are often insignificant, advising consultation with one's coun-selors and complete trust in God's providence. "Take good care not to fall into any discouragement when you are murmured at or criticized a little. No, my dear daughter; for I assure you that the business of finding fault is very easy and that of doing better very 'difficult. There needs but very little ability to find fault, and something to talk about, in those who govern or in their govern-ment; ¯ and, when someone reproves us or points out to us the im-perfections in our conduct, we ought to listen quietly to it all: then lay it before God, and take counsel with our assistant sisters; and after that do what is considered best, with a holy confidence that God will bring all to His glory." Insofar as possible the saint would have the superior remove any objective reason for such criti-cism. "The diligence of superiors ought to be great in applying a remedy to the very lightest murmurings of the community. For, as great storms are formed by invisible vapors, so in religion great troubles come from very light causes." There are, of course, many other types of discouragement in a superior's life; and sometimes these contribute towards a desire for removal from office even before expiration of term. To seek such an escape may be equivalent to manifesting insufficient trust in divine providence. No longer relying on God, the superior turns 2O danuar~t, 1955 FRANCIS DE SALES' ADVICE to self and to other human' beings--means always inadequate. A wish for relief from the burdens of the superiorsbip arises. In such a case St. Francis de Sales would recommend humility and confidence, in God's providence. Humility leads one to recognize that through self nothing can be achieved. Trust in divine providence brings the recognition that through God much is possible. To a superior in such a state of mind, St. Francis sent the following words: "Remain at peace then, my dear daughter; be a mother, and a good mother, as long as God shall so ordain." In moments of discouragement the one in authority may wonder to what degree the natural affection of the subjects is possessed. St. Francis would have the superior avoid" such a consideration and simply serve God courageously in all events. "I do not want you to be so tender, but like a strong woman to serve God with a good courage, looking at Him alone; and, therefore, when those thoughts as to whether people like you or not come into your mind, do not even look at them, assuring yourself that they will always like you as much as God wills." " Since human nature is weak and subject to failure, it would be very difficult to achieve a complete control of the emotions. Thus, the superior may be shaken with internal worry, anger, and dis-couragement. However, St. Francis de Sales does advise an external appearance of calm and peace in spite of thes~ inward troubles. "Take great care to maintain your exterior in a holy equableness. And if you have any trouble in your mind, let it not appear outside." The emotional stress present in everyday life may from time to time increase. If it does, a common difficulty is possible. The practical judgment ldecomes faulty, and suspicion enters into the evaluation of persons and situations. Proper relaxation and or-dinary care of health are helpful preventives. Thus, St. Francis counsels a superior "not to be overcharged with excessive care." To another he writes: "Take care of your health that it may serve you to serve God." Ex&ssive austerities may likewise be injurious to health and judg-ment. "To eat little, work hard, have much worry of mind, and refuse sleep to the body is to get much work out of a horse which is in poor condition without feeding him up." Without depreci-ating the vhlue of external mortification--always to be regulated by the Rule~t. Francis was of the belief that the interior repres-sion of the passions and the cultivation of the corresponding vir-tues are of more importance. "Do not burden yourself with too 21 EDWARDJ. CARNEY many vigils and austerities, my dear daughter; for I know well what I am saying in this. But go to the ro~tal port of the religious life by the royal road of the love of God and your neighbor, of humility and gentleness." "For my part, I should greatly approve that you do nothing but simply follow the community in all things, whether in mortifications or in whatever it may be. It seems to me that it ought to be the principal practice of a superior, this going before her daughters in the simplicity of doing neither more nor less than they do. For this causes her to be greatly loved, and marvelously keeps the spirit of her daughters in peace." Another of St. Francis' recommendations to superiors is an at-titude of peace and joy, even in the midst of troubles. Union with God is the source of such optimism. "And in all events it behooves to remain at peace in the will of God, for which ours is made." "Take care to preserve the peace and tranquility of your heart; let the waves growl and roll all around about your back, and fear not; for God is there: and, by consequence, safety." A consideration of heavenly reward also contributes towards this spirit of tranquillity. "My dear daughter, you are a spouse, not as yet of Jesus Christ glorified, but of Jesus Christ crucified; for which cause° the rings, the rich chains, and ornaments which He gives you, and which He wants you to wear, are crosses, nails, and thorns; and the marriage feast is gall, hyssop, and vinegar. In heaven above we shall have the rubies, diamonds, and emeralds, the wine, manna, and honey." . (To be continued.) BACK NUMBERS AVAILABLE Complete sets of back numbers are available for 1948, 1949, 1951, 1952, 1953, and 1954. The sets for each of these years sell at $3.00 for the United States and Possessions, and Canada; all other countries, $3.35. Individu'al copies of the following are still available at 50 cents per copy in the United States and Possessions, and Canada; all other countries, 60 cents each. 1943--January. 1944--January, March, May. 1945--November. 1946--'july. 1947--,Jan., May, July, Sept., Nov. 1948--Jan., May, ,July, Sept., Nov. 1949--March, May, July, Sept., Nov. 1950--March, Sept., Nov. 1951--March, May, July, Sept. 1952--March, May, July, Sept., Nov. 1953--Jan., March, May, July, Sept. 1954--A11 numbers. Please order from our business ot~ce in T6peka, and enclose check or postal money order to cover the amount. Postage will be paid by us. Address: Back Numbers Department Review for Religious 606 Harrison Street Topeka, Kansas 22 Though!:s on t:he Cont:empla ive Lit:e Mother M. Immaculata, P.C. IN view of the great mass of literature by both ancient and modern writers on the subject of contemplation, the title might indicate an unnecessary addencluro! Yet, while it is certainly true that the growing interest of our own age in the subject of contemplation has occasioned a new influx of books on the sub-ject, it remains a fact that much of that interest is mere curiosity, the seeking after something occult or thrilling, and that souls who are earnestly seeking something to satisfy the insatiable hunger left in them after earthly pleasures have waned remain in a state of confused uncertainty about the meaning of total renunciation and union with God in solitude. Contemplation has become al-most a byword of our generation. How many really know what it means? Words nowhere display their inadequacy so completely as when one must use them in writing of contemplative union with God. The greatest contemplative will always be the Virgin Mother of God; yet she has left us no words with which to teach us, save only that her soul magnified the Lord and that she rejoiced in Him. Nothing of the darkness, suffering, and desolation which were hers as coredemptrix has come down to us in words, save that cry which was wrung from. her Immaculate Heart on the one occasion on which we know she spoke to her divine son: "Son, why hast Thou done so to us?" Before any words were coined, before the creation of the ma-terial world, the contemplative spirit lived in heaven where the seraphim and cherubim lay in prostrate adoration before the most Holy Trinity in a state of overflowing bliss. These were the first contemplatives, whom we hope one day to join. There were contemplatives in the Old Testament, but 'fear dominated their souls as much as love did. Surely Isaias, behold-ing in spirit the virgin birth of Christ and then that same Redeemer reduced to utter ignominy, was a contemplative. Yet it required the love of our Redeemer Himself to establish .the full contemplative life in His Church, beginning it with the first and greatest con-templative vocation: that given to His own Blessed and Immaculate Mother. Can we imagine a more perfect house of contemplation 23 MOTHER M. IMMACULATA Review for Religious than that of Zachary and Elizabeth, when our Blessed Lady, the very tabernacle of the world's Savior, went about the humble house-hold duties in silent and joyous contemplation of the God within her, who, her duties completed, joined with her aged cousin in prayer and the chanting of the psalms, those mystic songs which even today form the choir prayer of contemplative communities throughout the world? The apostles, whose days were a succession of sufferings, hard-ships, and failures in the building up of the Mystical Body of Christ, were truly contemplative. What better proof of this than St. Paul's words: "'Mibi enim vivere Cbristus est!'" Down. through the centuries, the Church has fully recognized the value of the con-templative life of union with God; in the complex existence of our modern age, she still jealously guards the contemplative spirit which seems--only seems!--to have become rare. When we consider the persecutions which the Bride of Christ is undergoing in our "enlightened" age, I am inclined to make the bold statement that the martyred bishops, priests, religious, and faithful who have bravely confessed Christ by suffering and dying in physical and mental torture under Communistic rule are true con-templatives. As a case in point, we might mention Maryknoll's Bishop Ford, who had a truly contemplative spirit. He is only one of those whose union with, and love for, our Redeemer grew to such proportions, that the tortures and martyrdom he endured must have left only a diaphanous veil between him and the unseen world which is so very real to every contemplative soul. Prayer to a contemplative who has lived the life for forty years is undoubtedly different from the prayer that is essential to any religious or from the prayer of the young and inexperienced nun. There are active religious whose prayer is truly contemplative. Nor is the contemplative vocation given to anyone in its fullness at a given time. Often it seems to be taken for granted that entrance into a contemplative cloistered community "makes" the contemplative. Progression is thought to be a part of the contemplative life; ~ve are born, not made, by grace! Yet, if there is any vocation where a slow and persistent progress is the norm, it most certainly is the vocation of the contemplative. What does the adolescent boy or girl bIessed with a call to the Iife of contemplation know of the life of interior union with God? He or she has God's summons and the virgin soil for His planting; that is all. Gradual growth to maturity, integrity, spiritual strength is as much a part of the 24 ,lanuary, 1955 THOUGHTS ON THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE contemplative life as is the growth of an infant to manhood. Neither is it a painless growth! Death of self by continual self-ab-negation and self-effacement is the only really effective process of spiritual growth. And it is never painless! Passive acceptance of God's active and permissive will demands steadfast adhesion to His love. It is not easy.I have seen a leaflet which explained how easy it is to be a saint. In point of fact, sanctity "comes easy" to no one. We are members of a fallen race. Unless there be a steady spiritual progress, the contemplative can, and most certainly will, settle down into a mediocrity which is likely to become a hopeless stagnation. With no specialized ac-tivity, such as the outward apostolate imposes on souls and which brings a certain responsibility, the contemplative can settle into a groove of mediocrity and remain undisturbed in it, rousing her-self only on occasions which become more far-spaced. She can go on through life failing to accept the graces which could lead her to the most intimate union with God, until she finally must appear before Him quite empty handed, since she performed no outward work of the apostolate and only stood still on the high road into which He had beckoned her. If the greatest contemplative of all times, the spotless taber-nacle of God's humanity, mounted to an ever-higher sanctity all her life by the ladder of suffering and sorrow, can we who have inherited from our fallen first parents a constant down-drag of nature think to acquire a painless sanctity? We know that the sorrows of our Lady marked the highest flights of her peerless holi-ness~ until the day when the longing of her Immaculate Heart for eternal union with her divine son burned out the last throbbings of her heart and broke it with love. Although poles removed from Mary, we still may, and can, reach out for a union with God as uninterrupted as a creature's can be. Amidst the duties, trials, joys, and sufferings of daily life, our union can, and should, grow, wherever the call of God may have summoned us. If this is true of the active apostolate, and who will say it is not, how much more of the contemplative? But only too often we mistake true values in our daily lives. We certainly do not look for the fleeting pleasures of the world. We do. not want them; we would not enjoy them. Yet we. often look for peaceful hours of prayer, serene living with our fellow religious, untroubled lives as essential to our growth in union with God. Actually, ,it' is the sufferings, spi~ritual and physical, the little annoyances, Of 25 MOTHER M. IMMACULATA Review [or Religious community life, self-denial in our daily duties, and especially the little misunderstandings, misinterpretations of our Words and ac-tions, the setting aside by others of what we regard as so important that bring us to spiritual maturity and closest union with our divine Spouse. The things that so persistently tend to efface self and re-quire a self-abnegation which often shrivels our hearts, though those around us know nothing of it, are the things that indeed can, and do, lift us to a union with our Beloved as no peaceful prayer can. Only the passive acceptance of God's will can ever give us deep interior peace; and this kind of peace is an absolute requisite for true holiness. Faith grows deeper, more seemingly tangible, in the soul whose prayer becomes ever more uninterrupted. And .every true contem-plative will strive to live more and more in this atmgsphere of true peace which, whether accompanied by sufferings great or small, is union with God. If our Lady's prayer supported the infant Church, it was because her power consisted as much in her ardent love for, and union with, the divine will as in her prerogative as mother of 3esus. The power of the prayer of any contemplative, whether offered in the cloister of a monastery or in the de~ert of the world, is measured by the degree of loving, uninterrupted union with God in the fulfillment of His divine will, rather than by the number of bouts spent on one's knees and the number of penances performed. I have said that the unseen world of faith is very real to the contemplative. Only hearts tbat can envision more than the ma-terial and accidental above them know the true value of those very things. When the apostles knew our divine Lord only from His external words and actions, even witnessing His miracles, they still .knew Him only slightly. But after they bad passed through the darkness of Calvary, bad experienced the loss of everything, and realized their own littleness and cowardice did they begin to see Him as the true Son of God. To see ourselves as mean and ignoble, to know ourselves quite capable of any sin is the beginning--gnly the beginning!---of bumilil~y. And without humility there is no union with God. "He resistetb the proud." Before the apostles had experienced the depth of their own weakness, they were all ready to boast with Peter: "Not I, Lord! . Never will I betray Thee!" The contemplative who fancies herself above the weaknesses of others, wbo pretends to a refined scandalization at the faults of others, shows bet own immaturity in the contemplative life. The 26 Januar~t, 1955 THOUGHTS ON THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE great contemplative Teresa of Avila has said that true charity is never surprised at the faults of others. When the apostles had tasted the bitterness of their own weakness, they became fit instruments for the grace of God. The contemplative who has acquired enough self~knowledge to elevate herself above no one is ripe fruit for God's plucking. Standing in darkness, we begin to see into the "world intangible" and to understand true values. The occasions for self-abnegation which come to us can be grasped and taken in swiftdecision when we live in the unseen world where we know the Bridegroom of our soul watches. He upholds us, accepts with a loving hand the seem-ing trifles which the soul gives Him. One day she will find them again in that same loving hand and realize how great a value He has set upon her hidden gifts. Only in the unseen world are her actions fully evaluated, unmistakably understood; and her convic-tion increases that only in that darkness does true light come to her since there alone she sees all, not in the external passing of each action, but in the eternal value of it. The invisible grandeurs of the Christ-life in the soul and in the Church are little realized, though the faithful sometimes catch a rumor of them in solemn liturgical functions. But the eternal values of the unseen world are truly ours; ~and, when we live with ever-growing conviction of the glory and strength hidden beneath external actions of each hidden soul, we have come into true riches. We should not forget that the real mystic is one who is so per-fect an instrument in God's hand that in her highest activity she is 'still closely and passively united to Him, humbly allowing Him to do what He wills with her and humbly "following His will inher every action. That is union with God indeed. Holiness which wants to appear, to make an impression, is not holiness at all. Exter-nal signs of sanctity are not themselves holiness. Their interior cause is holiness in truth. We must strive to be so perfect an instrument in God's hand that He can do what He wills with us or do nothing at all with us if He so chooses. Perhaps this latter is the most ex-quisite form of a soul's acceptance of God's will. Is, then, all our union With God to be centered upon suffering and mortification? Assuredly not. The soul that thoroughly grasps the importance of being lovingly passive in God's hand can afford to be active; for her, prayer accompanies and informs all her actions. Her work is prayer, sprin.ging out of the intense prayer of her hours before the Blessed Sacrament, her chanting of the Divine 27-, MOTHER M. IMMACULATA O~ce, etc. Prayer and work and suffering form the great trilogy of .the contemplative's love of God. In the perfection of contempla-tion, they lose.their separate identities. Only the soul of prayer can make work a prolongation of prayer. Only the soul of such uni-versal prayer is equipped to suffer. Francis Thompson's words in "The Hound of Heaven"-- "Must Thy harvest fields be dunged with rotten death?"-~hold a depth of meaning almost unfathomable. How truly the fields of our kouls are fertilized with the death of self in the daily acceptance of all that so often appears trivial and yet is so searing to our souls. It was another poet who spoke those marvelous words of the Church's greatest lover who had learned that "Love must burn e'er it con-sumes." It is the searing of our self-will which is the mortification spiritual writers speak of as the most important requisite for interior prayer. The disciplining of our hearts in their desires and attach-ments is what constitutes this necessary mortification, not the little exterior mortifications we impose upon ourselves and which often wonderfully flatter our pride. To be able to unshackle ourselves from our attachment to ourselves, our ideas, our plans, our petti-ness, which makes us pity ourselves over every little real or imagined neglect or grievance, is to leave ourselves free and in such liberty of spirit that the Holy Spirit may make the tender chords of our souls vibrate with the music of interior and uninterrupted prayer. Thus will our souls bask in the light of truth: the truth about ourselves which is humbling and salutary; the truth about God, our lover and beloved, which exalts us. I can only repeat the words which God has used to bring strength to a teaching sister who so' graciously expressed her gratitude: It is not the things which en-rich us, but the things which efface us, which lead us steadily up-ward to closer union with God, our heart's beloved. APOSTOLATE OF THE PRESS We have received two booklets--A Brief History of the Daughters of St. Paul and God Gave This Modern World a Modern Religious Congregation--which de-scribe the founding and work of the Daughters of St. Paul. The special mission of this institute is the apostolate of "the editions"--that is, of press, screen, radio, etc. The sisters publish books, newspapers, magazines, etc. They themselves do the printing--from typesetting to binding; and they diffuse this material by direct distribution and by founding traveling libraries and bookstores. The institute, founded in Italy in 1915, was first established in the United States in 1932, at Staten Island, New York. Besides this original foundation, the sisters now have convents in Derby, N. Y. ; Boston, Mass. ; San antoni~o, Texas; Youngstown, Ohio; Alexandria, La. 28 Longevity Religious Women Sister Josephina, C.S.3. THE question often arises pertaining to the years of service in a given religious community. A study was made of the longev-ity of a community of men by Schnepp and Kurz.1 The study embraced 2,380 members of the Marianist order from 1819 to 1951. The mean ayeat death for religious men', according to the above study, was 55.7 years with a standard deviation of 22.4 years. The median age was 61.5 years. In order to compare similar data for women religious, necroiogy data were obtained from two religious communities for women, one in the eastern.part of the United States and the other situated in the midwest. The geographical sampling was felt adequate as the midwestern community reached as far north as Minnesota, west to California, and south to Texas. The two communities supplied for the period 1925 to 1950 the number of religious who died during each year, age at entrance, age at death, and type of work done in the community. For convenience the work was placed in two categories: teaching and housekeeping. To safeguard the iden-tity of the communities, they shall be called Group A and Group B. Both communities are the same in essence as having the same foundress. However, each is independent, with its own provincial and council. Group A numbered 1"81 religious who died in the period from ¯ 1925-1950, of whom 132 were teachers and 49 were non-teachers. Group B numbered 197 deceased members of whom 156 were teachers and 41 non-teachers. The actual number of religious of each community is approximately the same. Table i presents data related to the average age at entrance into the community. The range for both groups was from 14 to 50 years with a mean entrance age of 25.32 years. An important consideration is the actual number of years spent in the religious community. This was obtainedby subtracting the entrance age from the age at death for each member in the study. Table 2 presents the summary for this information. The average age at death was the final aspect of the study. Table 3 summgrizes the evidence for the groups. ZGerald J. Schnepp, S.M., and John T. Kurz, S.M.: "Length of Life of Religious Men: Marianists, 1820-1951," REVIEW FORRELIGIOUS, XII (Jan., 1953), 15-20. 29 SISTER JOSEPHINA TABLE I: AVERAGE AGE AT GROUP N A-~Teachers . 132 Non-Teachers . 49 B--Teachers . 156 Non-Teachers . 41 A ~d B--Teachers . 288 A ~ B--Non-Teachers. 90 A £d B--Teachers and Non-Teachers. 378 ENTRANCE MEASURE MEAN S. D 22.18 4.4 25.72 5.0 24.0 5.0 26.5 4.6 23.3 5.4 24.22 4.8 25.32 5.42 TABLE 2 : GROUP MEAN NUMBER OF YEARS IN RELIGION N MEASURE MEAN S. D A--Teachers . 132 44.4 15.95 Non-Teachers . 49 41.9. 15.95 B--Teachers . 156 34.3 17.25 Non-Teachers . 41 39.95 12.00 A 24 B--Teachers . 288 38.45 17.40 A 24 B~Non-Teachers. 90 41.05 14.70 A ~ B--Teachers and Non-Teachers. 378 38.45 16.65 TABLE 3: AVERAGE AGE AT DEATH GROUP N A-~Teachers . 132 Non-Teachers . 49 B--Teachers . 156 Non-Teachers . 41 A 24 B--Teachers . 288 A ~ B-~Non-Teachers. 90 A ~ B---Teachers and Non-Teachers. "378 MEASURE MEAN S. D 65.85 15.50 67.35 14.25 58.35 17.10 66.75 12.50 63.10 16.95 67.65 13.35 62.76 16.45 Comparing the total average age of women religious 62.75 years with the total average age of religious men 55.7, one may as-sume that religious women have a longer life Span than do religious men. However, the span for the study by Schnepp and Kurz em-braced the years 1819-1951 and the present study the years 1925- 1950. Medical science has made significant advances during the past quarter of a century which no doubt account in part for the longer life span of the religious women ificluded in this survey. 30 The story of the foundress of the Dominican Sisters of the Sick Poor. /V ot:her Mary Walsh Sister Mary Teresita, O.P. sISTER MARY sat down at the old pine table that served as her desk to write a letter to a friend. It was late October, 1887. The little group of lay tertiaries of, which she was the head was still very small. Katie .Barrett, her companion of the first strenuous years, the sharer ot~ her brightest hopes and dreams, had just left her after nine years together. Katie was tired out from the exhausting physical labors required of her, and the enthusiasm which had been hers in the beginning had now turned into dissatisfaction and discontent. Many years later Katie Barrett would re-enter Mary Walsh's life, bringing sorrow and an almost unbearable trial. On this day Mary Walsh could only look back. If she could have foreseen the future, she would have rejoiced; for that little group would some day be known as the Dominican Sisters of the Sick Poor and would achieve her cherished hopes and ideals, nursing the sick poor from eleven convents in various cities throughout the country. She thought of her birth in London and her quick exodus from there after the death of her parents from black diphtheria. The memories of her childhood were indeed pleasant as she mentally relived those happy times with her grandmother in County Limerick, Ireland. As a child she was affectionate and intelligent, quick and lively with many charming ways--and others perhaps not quite so charming; for her temper was as quick as her affections and her dislikes as decisive as her busy and curious little mind. When she was eighteen, her grandmother died; and she had to face the problem of making her own living either there or elsewhere. She decided to leave for the United States at the earliest opportunity. She arrived in this country as a ward of her uncle, who took her to live with his family in Philadelphia. Emerging a year later as a young wo-man of poise and grace, of gentle dignity, of chaste and joyous charm, but with limited educational benefits, she decided to try her fortune in New York where so many others of her race had sought a live-lihood. Securing employment as a laundress, she lived alone and friendless in a big and noisy city, endearing herself everywhere with her simplicity and inner peace. 31 SISTER J~IARY TERESITA Review [or Religious She remembered especially an August morning in 1876, not long after her arrival in the metropolis. The morning dawned, bringing with it the threat of showers, as dark, restless clouds scurried across the gray sky. She was hurrying along the streets of New York's lower East Side intent on the day's work. A child's pitiful cry emanating from a nearby tenement arrested her attention. Mary's response to the child's mournful plea of, "My mother's .sick, and I don't know what to do," was to reassure her gently and follow her up the rickety steps to a foul-smelling, unkempt one-room apartment. Filled with mixed emotions of sadness and anger at the sight that greeted her, and despite the disconcerting dryness in her throat, she managed to utter a few comforting words to the young mother who lay in the corner almost unconscious, with a dead infant at her side. Fright was mirrored in the stricken eyes of several other youngsters who stood huddled against a nearby wall. This stranger's unmistakable sincerity and personal interest in their welfare made a deep impression on the Dunne's; and, be-fore many .days had passed, the sick mother's spirits were soon revived. In the meantime, however, Mary found" herself unemployed. Taking care of the Dunne family all day long had necessitated neglect of the laundry work by which she made her living. When con-fronted with an ultimatum by her employer, her conscience and the dictates of charity left her only one choice. She would continue caring for this poor family that was on the brink of disaster both spiritually and materially, and God would take care of her. For choosing thus, she was to exclaim in later years, "I knew that day that hereafter I was to give whatever I had to those poorer than I. I said to myself, That's to be your life, Mary Walsb, to give what you have to the poor." At times the magnitude of the offering and the arduousness of the sacrifices ahead would almost overwhelm her, but she would never waver. Almost in a single focal point her inner desires came to bear with sharp intensity. Briefly and most effectively her new career was launched. This incident was to influence her whole life. Though not conscious of it, at that time she was laying the foundation of her real vocation as a benefactress and friend of Christ's sick poor, no matter what race, creed, or color. It-was amazing with 'what alacrity the local tradesmen were willing and eager to help this young woman in black. Though a stranger to most of them, her genuine honesty and simple eloquence won their support. The candor in her eager 32 Januarg, 1955 MOTHER MARY WALSH ~yes, the enviable integrity which her strong features displayed,, and her cheerful disposition enabled this obscure young laundress to effect an immediate and overwhelming response from everyone to whom she appealed. That was in 1878; and that was when the thought struck her that perhaps there might be other young women who would, if made aware of the appalling misery in their midst, help to alleviate it. It was then that Katie Barrett, with an enthusiasm as eager as her own, joined her; and together they began the work of nursing the sick poor in their neighborhood. She herself recalled this period in later years when talking to the sisters. "We lived on the West Side in two rooms on the top floor for two years. We went there late in 1879. We worked insofar as it was pgssible, i.e., only the first three days of every week, in order to spend the rest of the week among our beloved poor. We did laundry work--washing and ironing--in our own little flat. It was hard to maintain an even division of time, because often we couldn't get the clothes dry or laundry bundles were larger than we expected; and we were urged to accept more washing than we could take care of. That was a temptation of no mean size, for we needed the money desperately. We worked to earn money to pay our rent and food and to buy supplies for the poor and sick, for our begging campaign could not take care of the .many needs. We saw so many people who were in greater need of food than we were that we could enjoy our humble fare much better when we shared it. Many a/time we had only bread and water and enjoyed it. Our plain black dresses and the large wicker basket that we carried soon became symbols of begging in the neighborhood." Now, in 1887, Sister Mary was writing to Father Nevins, the spiritual director of her little group, to tell him that Katie had left them, It was hard for her to understand Katie's attitude because her own love for the sick poor had increased a hundredfold during the years. Father Aloysius Russell Nevins, C.S.P., had assumed the direc-tion of the little group only a few years before, but he knew the few tertiaries quite intimately, and Katie's defection was a sad blow for him also. His invaluable advice and counsels were a great'bul-wark in those early days when so many of the clergy regarded Mary Walsh as an impractical visionary. They would denounce her as trying to effect a century of progress in a decade. Amazing indeed ,were the results she accomplished in spite of these many handicaps 33 SISTER MARY TERESITA Review/:or Religious and setbacks. The years began to pass by more rapidly. Her days were even more crowded with work and responsibilities. Her health was grad-ually weakening, too; but she paid no attention to it, for, as a Ter-tiary of the Dominican Order, her increasing pains and difficult vision could not prevent attendance at her religious exercises and at her work. Meanwhile, the little band had grown quickly and just as quickly had dwindled. The utter poverty, physical hard-ships, and the rigors of religious life without the compensations afforded by a recognized order proved to be too ~nuch for the many, young enthusiasts who tried to live the life. Some twenty years later, in 1900, Si'ster Mary found herself with still only one com-panion, little Sister Teresa as she affectionately called the young sister who was in delicate health. When she was only five years old, Sister Teresa had come to live with Sister Mary. An aged uncle bad become Teresa's guardian at the death of bet parents, and she lived with him over a year when his health began to fail. It was the uncle's urgent request to Sister Mary, who bad been nurs-ing him through his last illness, that she take and care for the little girl. This Sister Mary did; and the playful, joyous, though always delicate youngster grew up sharing the sisters' life of poverty and hardship. Her one ambition was to become one of "Sister Mary's Sisters" when she was of age. This she did and chose the name of Sister Teresa. Though only eighteen at this time, she was a source of joy and consolation to Sister Mary in the dark and somewhat ominous days they 'shared. The turn of the century ushered in renewed hope and increased life through a transfusion of young, fresh blood into the hardened arteries of the struggling group. Upon the death of Father Nevins, ¯ the Reverend Peter J. O'Callaghan, C.S.P., became the spiritual guide of the little band. With flashing blue eyes and a firm, strong mouth which knew no indecision, Father O'Callaghan's very ap-pearance disseminated vigor and enthusiasm. Together they dis-cussed the possibilities and hopes for Sister Mary's work and the eventuality of becoming a recognized branch of the Church's fam-ily. Though Father O'Callaghan was sixteen years her junior, Sister Mary accepted him as her spiritual superior and would always ac-cept his counsels and advice as the word of God in her behalf, though in a short wh.ile that voice would assume a harsh note and force her into disharmony with her beloved community. In 1903, Sister Mary received an application from a young wo- 34 danuar~, 1955 MOTHER MARY WALSH man who she realized was no ordinary aspirant. In explaining the work and ideals of the community to Miss Brown, she stressed their extreme poverty. To the former school teacher she said, "We nurse the sick poor in their own homes. We accept no money for our work, and we make no distinction among our patients. Their color, religion, or lack of it, is no barrier to our services. You must know that we are very poor ourselves and live by the charity of others." The newcomer listened attentively and expressed her willing-ness to share their life. Elation and gratitude filled the heart of Sister Mary, for here was a candidate with the advantages of a good education and many friends in the neighborhood and who could do much to make known the plight of the sick poor. Within two months the infectious personality of Sister Annette, as she was called, bad gained for her the love and esteem of all the sisters, especially Sister Mary and Father O'Callagha9, who were quick to appraise the talents of this newcomer. Her business acumen was remarkable: and it is, therefore, not hard to understand that she was appointed treasurer of the group in such a short time. Realizing l~er capabilities and the respect she had won for herself both in religious and business matters and thinking of the advance-ment of the community, Sister Mary approached Father O'Callaghan and with characteristic humility suggested that Sister Annette be named superior in her stead. At first he was much abashed at such a precedent, but Sister Mary's persuasive humility and depth of sincerity won his approval. Thus in March of 1903, only a few months after her entrance, Sister Annette was appointed superior and Mary Walsh, after twenty-seven years of hard work, humbly and joyfully submitted to this woman of fresh ideas and hearten-ing determination. On that day a new page was written in the his-tory of the Dominican Sisters of the Sick Poor. Prestige and authority show a person's character in its true light. They give rise to the best and the worst in an individual, and at times to a little of both. The fact that Sister Annette was only three months in the community at the time of her appointment gives credence to the forcefulness of her personality. Her auspicious rise in power was recognized by all as something unique. As far as her administrative abilities were concerned, she proved to be all and even more than they had hoped for. It can be said that she accomplished much for the good of the litt!e group and procured many influential friends for it who were to prove lifetime benefactors. However, the qualities which in previous months bad attracted her to the foundre~s, 35 SISTER MARY TERESITA Review for Religious Sister Mary, now only repelled and annoyed her. Sister's unaffected humility she shrugged off as diffidence and timidity, and her ideas and suggestions were relegated to "those belonging to another .era." Subtly, she contrasted the hardships and burdens of Sister Mary's regime with the efficiency of her own. Her host of wealthy friends had been able to help the community a great deal in financial mat-ters. Unfortunately, however, things were not all as they appeared to be on the surface, for Sister Annette had fallen victim to a strange illness. Refusing medicaI attention, she would retire to her room for days at a time; and then as suddenly as it had come on the ill-ness would leave and once again she would be her old self. Sister Mary's keen mind appraised the situation; and, after long and prayerful deliberation, she decided to make known her fears to Father O'Callaghan. She was sure that Sister Annette had fallen prey to an indiscreet use of the narcotics to which she had access. Though at first she used them cautiously, as time progressed and her resistance was weakened, she succumbed to them completely. The mainspring of Sister Mary'scharacter was a dogged, stub-born, self-willed courage. Fired with love for her community, she presented the facts to Father O'Callaghan. Sister Mary knew that it would be di~cult to tell him these things, for the priest had the greatest admiration and respect for Sister Annette, but she never dreamed what the outcome would be. The priest listened quietly, his burning blue eyes showing their disbelief, his stern profile slightly contemptuous and his voice calm but openly rebuffing her. Yet, she found herself speaking with a calmness to match his own, which was astonishing in the face of such a grave situation. He could not believe that Sister M~ry was capable of harboring such uncharitable thoughts, and in no uncertain terms he made his position clear. It was his opinion that Sister Mary was unduly critical and perhaps regretful of her lost authority. It was true that it was at her own suggestion that Sister Annette assumed of-rice, but perhaps now she wanted it back. With eyes lowered and a heavy heart, Sister Mary replied slowly and placidly, "I want the best thing.for the community now as. always. I have .told you the truth with the good of the community and nothing else in mind." Father O'Callaghan, too, wanted the best thing for the com-munity, but it was very hard for him to accept this strange story, and he thought that perhaps it might be Sister Mary, herself, who was sick. Partial blindness had been threatening her for some time 36 #anuarg, 1955 MOTHER MARYWALsH now; and the years of exhausting, body-bending and heart-break-ing work had no doubt exacted their toll. Always quick to ~each a decision, he flatly stated that as her spiritual director, he advised that she leave her community for an. indefinite time. Confirmed in strength that was not and never could be her own, she asked, "Father, where am I to go?" "To St. Michael's Villa in Englewood, N. J. The Sist'ers of St. Joseph of Peace are in charge. I shall arrange that you will have a private room and you will be responsible only to me." "How long will that be?" she inquired. "For a year at least." And continuing, he added, "I impose silence on you in all matters pertaining to the community." The crucible of adversity and sufferings, misunderstanding, and rebuttals was to claim Mary Walsh for its own. No saint ever.went through this life without realizing the inseparable connection be-tween the cross here and the crown hereafter. Few were giyen more opportunities than Sister Mary to m~ake a perfect con, nection. Arriving at the lonely station in Huntsville, Sister Mary looked in vain for someone to direct her to St. Michael's Villa. The station was empty though, and tears o~ loneliness welled up within her. As she began the long walk to the Villa; however, the. fund of divine grace, accumulated through the years, began to shine through. She felt the peace of Christ flood her with strength and acquiescence, with consent and joy. The flow of tears ceased, and she went on from the station more tranquil and freed from the nervousness and strain of this severe trial. A brief excerpt from her little notebook revealLher inner sentiments: "Oct. 6, 1903--Sent out of my home. God forgive my sister. God forgive my sister. I arrived in Huntsville, could get no carriage. Had to walk one and one-half miles through a lonely wood with my little bag and bundle. I felt the weight of them so much, but I thought of our Lord carrying His cross. I felt the bitterness of exile. How good God is to bring me to live with Himself when I am driven out of my own home. It is very lonely but God is here and that is the best of all.'.' Another disappointment soon befell her. Father O'Callaghan, the man who had sent her on her via dolorosa, was taken from her. For years now the sisters had benefited from his wisdom and prudence, so it was with deep regret that they learned of his trans-fer to a large parish in Chicago. Sister Mary was perhaps the most deeply affected by this change; for, though their opinions had di- 37 SISTER MARY TERESITA Review/:or Reliqious verged on many questions throughout the years, their souls were kindred spirits, united in tireless love and service to Christ and the sick poor. In later years it was to be said of him that he knew the mind and heart of the foundress better than anyone else. However, he continued to direct Sister Mary by way of the written word, and within a year he sent for her to join him in Chicago. For the remaining years of her exile, she worked as sac-ristan in his parish, living in silence and acute loneliness. Never once did she refer to her little community, which was now a legal cor-poration in the State of New York. Under Sister Annette's super-vision both the personnel and scope of work had expande'd, and the future was beginning to take on a brighter hue. Once again the faultless intuition of Sister Mary, which was bred of faith and true charity, had proven itself. Sister Annette's condition had become markedIy worse and her unfortunate addic-tion to narcotics was beginning to play havoc with the struggling group. Diocesan authorities intervened, and on November 23, 1906, she was admitted to St. Vincent's Retreat, Harrison, N. Y., for psychiatric care. Discharged seven mdnths later as cured, she led an exemplary and truly Christian life until the time of he~ death some twenty-five years later. Immediately, the sisters petitioned Father O'Callaghan for Sister Mary's return. He sent for her at once and, without any reference to her years of unfair exile, stated that she would once again assume command of the community at the request of the sisters and in com-pliance with his own wishes. This she did joyfully and never once alluded to the past. There was only one cloud to darken Sister Mary's homecoming. It was the absence of little Sister Teresa, who had died during Sister Mary's exile. Though the young sister bad written often, she had never once mentioned the serious condition of her health; and her death came as a severe blow to Sister Mary. The task of straightening out the many loose ends which her predecessor had left was a difficult one: but often, when deluged by the multitudinous problems which almost never abated and from which she never flinched, she would seek and find in daily prayer the support and supernatural strength she needed. Soon her charity became a byword in the neighborhood. She was ever ready at a moment's notice to assuage pain, to give advice, and to enter into every trial of those who sought her aid. A soul so richly endowed with the gifts of nature and of grace, as intelligent as she was holy, as cheerful as she was prayerful, as sensible as she was recollected, 38 d'anuar~j, 1955 MOTHER MARY WALSH free from any of the harshness or oddity which tend to make holy people offensive to others, she had the power of attracting souls. It was the ardent desire of Sister Mary to see her little com-nhunity placed on a more stable basis; for she realized that many of the young applicants, so zealous and enthusiastic and full of good will, needed the protection and he.lp of a recognized community as well as the work so dear to them. Toward this end both she and Father O'Callaghan would work indefatigably. It was natural that they would decide to affiliate with the Dominican Order since all of the sisters were Third Order members. Fortunately, Father O'Cal-laghan was able to influence a young Dominican priest in their cause. Father John T. McNicholas, O.P., later Archbishop of Cin-cinnati and lifelong friend of the community, was sympathetic toward the little group: but he xvishedto proceed cautiously. After his first meeting with the foundress, whom he described as a "light that could not be dimmed," he entered into the project wholeheart-edly. Later on he was to say.of Sister Mary: "Her.willingness to wait and her confidence that God would bless her work impressed me beyond measure. I could never forget her firm resolve that her community should accomplish its aim only under the aegis of Saint Dominic." August 4, lC/! 0, feast of St. Dominic, was indeed a day of glad rejoicing; for the long-sought approval had arrived. The Very Reverend Hyacinth Cormier, O.P., Master General of the Dominican Order, who earlier in the struggle had proved himself a staunch supporter of their work, now officially received them into the order. Henceforth they were to be known as the Dominican Sisters of the Sick Poor and were to enjoy all the graces and privileges of St. Dominic's daughters. After several unsuccessful attempts to secure a novice mistress from one of the many Dominican Sisterhoods, Sister Mary finally achieved success when Mother M. Vincentia, O.P., Mother General of the Dominican Sisters of St. Mary of the Springs, Columbus, Ohio, consented to grant a year's leave of absence to Sister M. Fred-erica for that purpose. Father McNicholas inquired somewhat hesi-tantly whether Sister Mary, as superior, was planning to go through the novitiate training with the other sisters. She told him, "I also must learn about the religious life. I, more than the others, need the benefit of that important training." Writing for religious I find it hardly necessary to emphasize the adjustment'necessary for novitiate training. Imagine with what 39 SISTER MARY TERESITA Review for Religious difficulty a woman of sixty years, worn out with the physical and mental hardships of more than thirty years of labor, possessed of an ardent nature and quick temper, had to fight the tiring battle of self-conquest under a loving but strict disciplinarian. With total forgetfulness of self and her infirmities, Sister Mary sought no dis-pensations from the novitiate rules kept by those forty years her junior. No other sister in the whole group was more conscious of her failures and shortcomings. Sister Frederica was later to say of her, "Sister Mary accepted correction better than any other religious I ever knew. I gave her many penances and humiliations, but never once did she show any signs of disobedience or pride. I wonder now how I could have been so strict with her." At this time Sister Mary was a mature woman in her early sixties, disci-plined by years of suffering and pain and tested in the crucible of unjust criticism; but her shining purity of motive, unremitting labor and d~votion in the cause of fostering her work among the poor, her personal humility and austerity made her an example to all the other novices. At the end of the canonical year, Sister Mary asked Father Mc- Nicholas to use his influence in.retaining Sister Frederica for another year as superior and novice mistress. In a somewhat incredulous tone he asked, "Have you not had enough corrections?" "Oh no, Father!" she quickly answered. "Sister Frederica is a wonderful religious. She has had a hard task training us old women. I would like her to continue to act as our superior for another year, directing the lives and exercises of the sisters, as if we were going through the canonical novitiate again." Kindly disposed toward the little community and recognizing the true worth of Sister Frederica's work among them, Mother Vin-centia agreed to the proposal. Rejoicing at their good fortune, Sister Mary expressed herself to Father McNicholas, "We need further trials. We'must be put to further tests if we are to be good religious. As for myself, I know that only in the fire of humiliation can this stubborn will of mine be bent to the yoke of God's will." Perhaps one of the greatest proofs of Mary Walsh's humility are the words of one who tried and tested its worth, her novice mistress. In a conversation with Sister Hyacinth some years later, Sister Frederica said, "You will find that Sister Mary's humility will keep things in balance under all circumstances. It permits her to recognize her. own nothingness in the face of God's perfection. Many read of such humility, but few are privileged to live with it."' 4O Januar~l, 1955 MOTHER MARY' WALSH During these years when Sister Frederica was in charge of the newly formed community, Katie Barrett once again cast her shadow. It was her desire to join the growing community now that it was officially established in the Church. Sister Mary, a novice at the time, referred her to Sister Frederica, who recognized signs of in-stability and rejected the candidate. Katie was annoyed and in-dignant. She went away with great feelings of resentment against Sister Mary, who actually had nothing to do with the decision of Sister Frederica. The years began to pass quickly now, and the fullness of the religious life would help Mary Walsh to make great progress in oyercoming her passionate nature. She was to be sanctified by an intense amount of work and sacrifice. She would have the merit of a life of prayer but not the enjoyment of it, for she would pray by wishing she had more'time to pray. Crosses belong in everyone's life, but in hers they played a major role. Perhaps the greatest cross she would have to bear came to her one night in August, 1913. The sisters were sharing the ~imple joys of St. Dominic's feast day, waiting for Sister Mary to come in from her little office where she was glancing through the mail. The sight of a familiar handwrit-ing staitled her with surprise, and eagerly she tore open the letter to see What Katie Barrett bad to say. In this fateful letter Sister Mary read the horrifying accusation that she was the mother of the little orphan girl who later had become Sister Teresa and had shared Sister Mary's work among the sick poor until her death. Katie also stated that this information had been sent to the Arch-bishop of New York and the Dominican provincial. Unrestrainedly Sister Mary wept. "It doesn't seem possible that Katie could invent this falsehood about me. My poor little com-munity! My dear sisters! Will they, too, suffer from this slander?" But, just as quickly as the tears came, they disappeared, and, reach-ing a decision, she added, "I'll put this in the hands of God. He will protect our community, if it be for His honor and glory. With all my heart and soul I believe that." Sister Mary called Sister Reginald, her assistant, into the office and revealed to her the contents of the letter. After prayerful con-sideration Sister Mary said, "The sisters must not know. God will take care of us. I am not afraid now; and there is only one thing I wish for Katie; if she ever needs us, I hope we will learn of it in time to take care of bet." Sister Mary would never have that opportunity, but fifteen years 41 SISTER MARY TERESITA later one of her spiritual daughters would be summoned to a dreary flat where an elderly lady, poor, sick and alone, suffering from arthritis, was badly in need of care. The patient's name was IZatie Barrett. At first she was hostile and unresponsive, but little by little the warmth of sister's charity melted the cold reserve, and one day she spoke to Sister Concepta with a tone of deep sincerity. "I hurt Sister Mary when I wrote that lie and I did her a great harm. Many times I have been sorry that I ever left her." Shortly after that Katie Barrett died and the sisters rejoiced that they had been able to carry out their foundress' wishes on her behalf. Mother Mary Walsh, as she had been called since her vows in 1912, achieved the goal of her lifetime when she saw her com-munity and its work approved by the Church. Her work, like that of the mustard seed in the gospel, had a humble beginning and grew without exterior display; but, with the grace of the Holy Ghost, it had begun to bear fruit. Before Mother Mary's death in 1922, the community had already made another foundation in New York and one in Columbus, Ohio. Plans were made for the opening of another convent in Denver, Colorado, but the foundress did not live t6 see this eventuate. Here was a woman humble of heart, shrinking from e.xterior glory, and animated by the keenest sense of responsibility. There is an undeviating consistence in her character; and this character crystallized into something compact, disciplined through the years of unremitting sacrifice to the triumph of a cause to which she had so long ago dedicated herself. God had raised her up to found a new body of religious women. For this task she had prepared her-self by first conquering self and by a steadfast faith that never wavered nor lost sight of its motivating drive. All she had to do was become like plastic, pliable material and cast herself in a state of absolute dependence and humility into the beautiful and cruci-fying mold of suffering. This she did admirably. Seeking to un-derstand the hidden part humility played in her life, we look to no better source of information than her own words, "I would rather be able to take humiliation well than to raise the dead to life. If I could raise the dead to life, I might still lose my own soul; but if I became truly humble in all things I am assured of salvation." A Saint:'s Last: Le!:t:er [EDITORS' N&TE: This is the last letter written by St. Gabriel of the Sorrowful~ Mother, the young Passionist saint who died February 27, 1862, and was canon-ized on May 13, 1920, The letter, written at Isola, December 30, 1861, is ad-dressed to his brother, Michael Possenti, who later became a doctor and who, when over eighty years of age, was present at the canonization. Michael kept this letter with him constantly. It was his joy to tell others: "The last expression of his love for Mary. his last call to true beauty', his last good-by' written on earth was for me." The present translation was made by' Father ,John Mary Render, C.P,, of Des Moines, Iowa. The translation was made from Lettere di San Gabriele dell" Ad-dolorata: Santuario S. Gabriele dell' Addolorata (Teramo), 1943, pp. 140-45.] My dear brother, ~received your letter at Christmas and appreciated it. In it you reminded me again that I have not written for a long time. True, but what is there to write? I have no particular news to give you. We live in a solitary spot. No one tells me any news, and I thank God I have no desire to know what goes on in the world. What can I tell you then? What little news I have is passed on to you by Dad to whom I am careful to write from time to time. If I wrote to you, I could only write about things that you know already. Michael! Remember that you cannot serve two masters. No one can be occupied with the world and God. Remember that they are mistaken who think that by practicing some devotions or doing some good works they can be saved, while remaining attached to creatures, amusements, and a goc~d time. You know that Jesus Christ said the way to heaven is straight. And another, time He said: "If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me." I hope that you do not attend the theater, parties, balls, and such things. While you do take part in social life, I hope that you are prudent enough to keep far from such dangers as I have men-tioned. Michael, believe your brother who speaks to you with his heart on his lips and who wishes only to see you always truly happy--the desire to go to such places without true necessity is most dangerous. To pretend that God will give you the grace not / , to fall into sin on such occasions is foolish presumption. Michael, do you want to love? Then do so by all means, but do you know whom? Love Mary. Who is more beautiful, more lov~ible, more powerful than she? Do not think that, because you cannot see her with your bodily eyes, loving her and speaking with 43 JOHN M. RENDER Review for Religious her brings weariness an'd is empty of consolation. No, consolations, joys will be all the more pure and all the more capable of filling your heart as the soul is spiritual and superior to the body. And then note well that people here on earth cannot make you happy. They are inconstant and deceitful in their love. And even if you should find someone without such defects, ~the one thought of having to separate from them one day will embitter and torment you/ heart, But this will rmt happen tb one who chooses Mary. She is lovable, faithful, constant. She will never let herself be out-done in Iove but will ever remain supreme. If you are in danger, she will hasten to free you. If you hre troubled~ she will console you. If you are sick, she will bring you relief, If you are in need, she will help you. She does not look to see what kind of person you have been. She simply comes to a heart that wants to love her. She comes quickly and opens her heart of mercy to you, embraces you, defends you, consoles you, and even serves you. She accom-panies you during this short time while you travel to eternity. And then (oh, my brother, this is what is most consoling) in that moment, in that very moment, when all will end in unspeak-able bitterness for those who have loved creatures from which they must separate themselves and pass from life here to the eternal home they have built, in that moment, I say, they will speak of these things with indescribable anguish. As though in despair they will say:--O cruel and bitter death, do you cut me off from what has up to now been the object of my heart! But the true lovers of Mary are consoled and welcome death. They separate themselves in peace from the things of this world and remember they are going to possess in reality the, object of their pure love, and they will be happy forever in her presence. Michael, try this; and, if it doesn't happen to you, then tell me I'm wrong. Make a visit every day, morning and evening if possible, to an image of Mary which you like best. Or better still, visit one in a church which is most neglected; and your visit will please her all the more. Sacrifice some object which is dangerous or vain, some- .thing you may have. Offer it at her feet in one of your visits. For love of her abstain from some amusements, companions, or pastimes; at least, from those that are dangerous and lead to evil. Recite the rosary every day out of love for her. Finally, when you feel in-spired to do anything or make some sacrifice for her, do it at once with a great heart and willing spirit and. be convinced that Mary will not be outdone in generosity. 44 January, 1955 SAINT'S LAST LETTER If you think it proper, show this letter to Tess and Pellegrini.1 Remind them that the scene of the present world is passing swiftly away. Tell them to keep God ever before them; and never do anything which could displease Him, not even for all the money in the world. Better to suffer and be patient for a few years here and then to rejoice for eternity than to live in luxury for a few years here and then to suffer, not ten, nor a hundred, nor a thousand, nor a million years, but for eternity. Remind them that God will ask an account not only for their own souls, but also for those of their family. So they must try to brihg them up in the holy fear of God and not according to the maxims of the world. What will they answer in the ~day of judgment, if . . . ? Perhaps you will smile when you read this letter, but that does not matter. He who has written it merits only derision. But re-member that he,who writes does so with his heart in his pen, with-out any aim in the world but the true and real good which you will have to answer for. My only aim after the glory of God is to be able to see us all united on the t~emendous day of judgment under the mantle of Mary, although~ here we are separated. Good-by, my .brother. Do not disdain me. Do what I have told you. It is a matter of eternal happiness or unhappiness. Every sadrifice is important and small. May Jesus and Mary give you and the whole family a very Happy.New Year. My Father Lector, who is so concerned for me, wishes you the same. Greet Dad and all the family. Recommend me to our Blessed -Mother that I may be saved. I seek nothing else. I am content to live retired in holy religion. I would rather by the divine mercy be the least of our brethren that be a son of the king and an heir of the kingdom. At this moment I might have been ordained a priest. But the ruling on the ordinations has prevented me from ascending beyond minor orders,z God wills it this way; so I will it too. Peace be with you. Your dearestbrother, Conf. Gabriel of the Sorrowful Virgin3 1His sister and brother-in-law. 2He received tonsure and minor orders May 25, 1861; and arrangements had been made for him to receive the subdiaconate the following September, then diaconate and the priesthood at Christmastime. But political disturbances made travel dang-erous, and the ordinations had to be deferred. 3Conf. is the abbreviation for Confrater, a title of passionist clerics not yet priests. 45 On Secular Ins÷ifu÷es For those who are interested in secular institutes a fine treatment of that topic in French has appeared under the title, Les lnstituts S~culiers. Descl~e de Brouwer publishes this 402-page book by Jean Beyer, S.J., professor of moral theology and canon law at the Jesuit Seminary in Louvain. The price is listed as 150 francs. A glance at the Table of Contents shows that the subject matter is divided into four parts. (1) A historical treatment of the origins and development of secular institutes (about 55 pages). (2) Astudy of the theology of secular institutes, including such items as the mat-ter of the vows, states of perfection, perfection and the priesthood, the interior life of secular institutes (about 105 pages). (3) Under the caption of legislation about secular institutes, a commentary on the ten Articles of the Provida Mater Ecclesia and on several other prac-tical points (also about 105 pages). (4) A concluding section which gives the text (in French) of various pertinent documents. The first of these are ten pontifical documents, dating from 1801 up to 1952, and including the Apostolic Constitution Pro~2ida Mater Ecclesia, the Motu proprio Primo Felic~'ter, and the Instruction of the Sacred Congregation of Religious Curn Sanctissirnus. Then follow two short "historical" documents and six "canonical" ones. These latter six documents are examples of decrees establishing a definite pious union and a diocesan secular institute, a decree of praise of a pontifical secular institute, a decree of definitive approba-tion of a pontifical secular institute, a form of "oblation" used by one group at the start.of the "novitiate," and a form of "consecration" used by one pious union for admission of new members. The differ: ent documents fill up about 55 pages. The last 35 pages of the book are devoted to valuable appendixes listing and giving brief descrip-tive notices of pious unions and secular institutes in various stages of approval. Four very short statistical tables summarize the data. The descriptive notices and the tables are concerned with groups nearly all originating in Europe, but of which some have spread to other continents. An extensive bibliography on the subject proper and on related areas, the table of contents, a list of abbreviations, the Preface and Introduction, and interspersing title leaves round out the sum total of pages of this highly competent work. 46 t ook Reviews THI: THEOLOGY OF THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. By Joseph de Gulbert, S.J. Translafed by Paul Barre÷÷, O.F.M.Cap. Pp. x÷382. Sheed and Ward, NewYork, 1953. $4.50. Father De Guibert was one of the most prominent and influen-tial authorities in ascetical and mystical theology during the first half of this century. He was one of the principal founders and editors of both the Reuue d'Asc~tique et M~stique and the Diction-naire de SpiritualitY. For many years he taught this specialty in the Gregorian University, Rome; and this book is a translation of what he used as a textbook or outline for his course there. Hence it is not primarily a devotional treatise, but a textbook for students of the-ology. After an introductory section on the study of "spiritual the-ology," the nature of Christian perfection is considered. Father De Guibert's favorite way of expressing it is to say that it consists "in the ever-growing dominion of charity." Other points discussed in this connection are the relations between observing the counsels and perfection, perfection and union with God or with Christ, union with the Holy Spirit, Christ as the center of all spiritual perfection, perfection and the imitation of God or of Christ, perfection and bearing the cross, and, lastly, perfection and con. formity of will. The third part is given to "The Inspirations and Gifts of the Holy Ghost and the Discernment of Spirits," and the fourth to "Man's Cooperation with God in the Spiritual Life." Next the important .problems of mental prayer are dealt with. Then follows a treatment of the degrees that are to be found in the development of the super-natural life. The final part handles questions relating to infused contemplation. Certain sections of this work are taken up with matter that has been much involved in controversy in recent years. Such are the chapters on contemplation, acquired or infused, the nature of mysti-cal experience, and especially the necessity of infused contemplation for the pursuit of high sanctity. These may be commended to those who are interested, and most of all to those who are not familiar with the views and arguments proposed by Father De Guibert and still would like to consider both solutions to the problem before ,committing themselves to either one. 47 BOOK REVIEWS Ret~ie~J for Religious Among the chapters in this book that seem particularly orig-inal and interesting, one might call attention to three. (1) How should one strike the proper balance in the spiritual life betwen ac-tivity and passivity, between personal initiative and accepted meth-ods, or between the impulses that appear to be inspired by the good spirit and external norms? (pp. 146-154) (2) What is the right attitude toward spiritual direction? Is a director acting within his power if he determines the vocation of a yourig person who seeks his counsel? (pp. 155-185) (3) How are we to conceive the re-lations between the active and contemplative lives? In what sense is the contemplative life superior to the active or mixed life? (pp. 292-301) Though The Tbeolog~ of the Spiritual Life was written for students preparing for the priesthood, it is a work that any intelli-gent person cultivating the interior life could very profitably use. What one should expect from it is not so much inspiration or moti-vation- it does not strive to bring out the vital implications of the great Christian dogmas--but rather a thorough knowledge and understanding of the theory and practice of the supernatural life. For directors it should be on the "must" list; and, to all who would take a more deeply intelligent approach in their quest of ascetical or mystical perfection, .it is very highly recommended. AUGUSTINE G. ELLARD, S.J. THE SECRET OF THE ROSARY. By St. Louis de Mon~forf. Pp. 188. Mon~for~ Publiea÷ions, Bay Shore, N.Y., 1954. $2.50. When canonized saints write "spiritual reading," they seem to dip their pens not so much into ink as into the heroic charity and extraordinary prudence that help them be the saints they are. Hence their books deserve more than ordinary attention, for they inspire to much better than ordinary goodness. This volume is definitely such a book. St. Louis. Mary (born in the Breton town of Montfort, or-dained in 1700, canonized in 1947) was extraordinary even among saints for three realizations, namely, devotion to Mary increases love for 3esus; the rosary is the devotion which (he tells us) Mary "vastly prefers to all other devotions"; and the rosary "is not just a conglomeration of Our Fathers and Hail Marys, but . . . a divine summary of the mysteries of the life, passion, death, and glory of 3esus and Mary . . . a blessed blending of mental and vocal prayer, bywhich we honor and learn to imitate the virtues of the life, 48 danuary, 1955 BOOK REVIEWS passion, death, and glory of Jesus and Mary." St. Louis Mary was not only singularly devoted to Mary and the rosary, but--and this is the second great merit of his book--- he was singularly capable of teaching how to say the rosary well. The brief considerations on the Our Father are better than any others we have ever seen and, with the considerations on the Hail Mater, can serve magnificently as "points" for many meditations. The method, variable according to each one's devotion, of offering each of the fifteen decades is truly a saint's remedy for distractions. Fortunately, St. Louis Mary remembered to add to his book some wise words about "human faith," "pious faith," and "divine faith." These words can help the historical-minded and may pre-vent them. from refusing to let this book help them because they find unwarranted historical assumptions in it. As the Catholic Encyclopedia noted years ago, it was "undoubtedly" Blessed Alan de la Roche (preaching the rosary lovingly and beneficially in 1470-75) who "first suggested" that it had been revealed by our Lady to St. Dominic Guzman (1170-1221). St. Louis Mary and his contemporaries generally accepted Blessed Alan's belief as an historically-proved fact. But the good lessons which the saint draws from Blessed Alan's preaching make this book's historical error very pardonable indeed and very minor.-~PAUL DENT, 8.J. MARY IN DOCTRINE. By Emil Neubert, S.M., S.T.D. Pp. 257. The Bruce Publishing C~o., Milwaukee~ 1954. $4.25. In Mary in Doctrine, Father Neubert, foremost Mariologist among the Marianists, offers a systematic study of the privileges of Mary. While theologically exact and thorough, the book is written especially for the busy priest or religious unable to devote himself to the arduous study of the more specialized works. The book is developed on the basic formula: to the various privileges of the humanity of Jesus there correspond analogous privileges in Mary, in the manner and in the degree required by the difference between her condition and that of her son. The privi-leges of Mary fall into two groups in the author's division. The first are primarily functions; such as, the divine maternity, the universal mediation, and the universal sovereignty; the second are .the privileges accorded to Mary either in view of, or consequent upon, her functions; such as, her Immaculate Conception,. her vir-ginity, and her fullness of gra~e. ~ Chapter by chapter,' the book is a well-laid-ou.t'study of these BOOK REVIEWS Review for R~ligious functions and privileges. Each study is nicely done with clear ex-planation of. the meaning of the dogma, a rather full treatment of its scriptural and traditional background, and a rounded develop-ment of its wider theological implications. Readers will appreciate the clear explanation of what the Church understands by each privi-lege, the adequate treatment of its historical development, the ex. planation of the positions held by the more important adversaries. Father Neubert has written a very practical introduction ex-plaining the process by which the implicit content of revelation con-cerning Mary has become explicit through the ages and the criteria of infallibility that has guarded this de~relopment. Although--perhaps because--Father Neubert has written with the thoroughness and precision of the professional theologian, the book radiates the warmth peculiar to well-handled theological study. It offers a solid doctrinal foundation for a knowledge of Mary that will lead to a practical devotion to the Mother of God. --WILLIAM J. ENNEN, S.J. BORN CATHOLICS. Assembled by F. J. Sheed. Pp. 279. Sheed and Ward, New York, 1954. $3.S0. Those who think that the discovery of the Faith is a phenome-non peculiar to converts are inviting disillusionment when they pick up this book. Born Catholics is a compilation of nineteen accounts of why they are still Catholics, writ'ten by Cath01ics'who were such from infancy or from an age too young for' them to be called converts. The various' contributors are men, and women of varied age and profession, including a philosophy professor, in a Catholic college, a chemistry professor in a non-Catholic colleges artists, writers, names well known to the Catholic reading world, such as. Erik yon Kuehnelt-Leddihn and Caryll Houselander, and names not so well known. The unifying element, besides the fact that the writers were Catholic from an early age, is that they Were known to the assembler. All the ~iccounts, save the last by Hilaire Belloc, were.written for the book by request. It. seems to this reviewer that a greater variety of viewpoints is expressed in this assembly than is found in convert books; and that this book should refute those who think that only the con-verts show spontaneity and originality, the "cradle-Catholics" merely fdllowing where they are led. Some of the writers had to" find their way back to the Church after a period a~ay; most have met crises along the way; and all.have had to face their Faith with art attitude 5O danuar~t, 1955 BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS of intelligent examination sooner or later. Nor do the writers ar-rive at a point where they all settle back comfortably viewing the Church with the same regard, without problems, without criticism, without difficulties. The reader is in for an interesting intellectual experience.--ALBERT J. SMITH, S.J. BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS THE AMERICA PRESS, 70 E. 45th St., New York 17. Mar~t and the Popes. Five Great Marian Letters. Edited by Thomas J. M. Burke, S.J. In this collection Pius IX defines the Immaculate Conception (InelfabiIis Deus), Leo XIII writes on the rosary (ducunda Semper), Pius X speaks of Mary's maternity and mediation (Ad diem Illum Laetissimum), and Pius XII defines Mary's Assumption (Munfffcentissimus Deus), and proclaims the Marian Year (Fulgens Corona). Each letter is followed by study questions. Pp. 107. $1.00. BEAUCHESNE ET SES FILS, Paris, Rue de Rennes, 117. L'Evangile et les Evangiles. Par Joseph Huby, S.J. Nouvelle edition revue et augmentee par Xavier Leon-Dufour, S.J. A classic commentary on the New Testament which is much more than a mere explanation of difficult phrases. It is a book that should be translated into English. Pp. 304. BROTHERS OF THE SACRED HEART, Metuchen, New Jersey. Catechism of the Religious Profession. Many religious must be familiar with the first edition of this excellent book. They will be pleased to learn that in this new edition it has been completely revised. Pp. 158. $2.00. THE BRUCE PUBLISHING CO., 400 N. Broadway, Milwaukee 1, Wis. In the Image of Christ. By John L. Murphy. Books for "spir-itual" reading written specifically for the laity are not too numerous. In this volume Father Murphy applies the doctrine of the mystical body to the practical, every-day realities of life in the world. There are chapters on Marriage in Christ, The Teacher, The Farmer, Christ in Politics, and many others. The book makes good public reading for closed retreats. Pp. 169. $3.00. The Christian Life Calendar. By Reverend Gabriel Ward Haf-ford and Reverend George Kolanda. A truly Christian life is a liturgical life. That is why this calendar gives the layman all the liturgical informatiori he /nay need to live each

Issue 14.3 of the Review for Religious, 1955. ; Review for Religious MAY 15, 1955 Empress of America . c.J. McNaspy The Relicjious Life . Pope Plus Throucjh His Blood . Joseph H. Roh~i.g Community Life . Bernard I. Mullahy Third Mode of Humility. ¯ . . c. A. Heri~st Mary and Joseph Find Jesus . " . . Paul Oent Book Reviews Questions and Answers Summer Schools VOLUME XlV NO. 3 RI Vli::W FOR Ri::LIGIOUS VOLUME XIV MAY, 1955 NUMBER 3 CONTENTS EMPRESS OF AMERICA---C. J. McNaspy, S.J .113 SURSUM CORDA . 122 POPE PIUS XII AND THE RELIGIOUS LIFF_;--doseph F. Gallen, S.d1.23 THROUGH HIS BLOOD~doseph H. Rohling, C.PP.S . 139 COMMUNITY LIFE--Bernard I. Mullahy, C.S.C . 141 TI-IE. THIRD MODE OF HUMILITY---C. A. Herbst, S.3 .1.50 MARY AND dOSEPH FIND dESUS--Paul Dent, S.d .155 BOOK REVIEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS-- Editor: Bernard A. Hausman~, S.3. West Baden College West Baden Springs, Indiana . 157 SOME BOOKLETS . 164 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS-- ll. Dismissal of Novice without Giving Reason .165 12. Novitiate Extended until Regular Profession Ceremonies 165 13. Mental Patients with Temporary Vows . 166 14. Changing Constitutions in regard to Mail . 166 15. Handbook for Sacristans . 167 OUR CONTRIBUTORS . 167 SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS . 168 REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, May, 1955. Vol. XIV, No. 3. Published bi- " monthly: ,January, March, May; 3uly~ September, and November at the College Press, 606 Harrison Street, Topeka, Kansas, by St. Mary's College, St. Marys, Kansas, with ecclesiastical approbation. Entered as second class matter ,January 15, 1942, at the Post Office, Topeka, Kansas, under the act of March 3, 1879. Editorial Board: Augustine G.Ellard, S.,J., Adam C. Ellis, S.,J., Gerald Kelly, S.3., Francis N. Korth, S.,J. Literary Editor: Edwin F. Falteisek, S.3. Copyright, 1955, by Adam C. Ellis, S.d. Permission is hereby granted for quota-tions of reasonable length, provided due credit be given this review and the author. Subscription price: 3 dollars a year; 50 cents a copy Printed in U. S. A. Before writing to us, please consult notice on inslde back cover. Empress ot: America INTRODUCTION o F the world's favorite Marian shrines it may seem surprising that the oldest is on our own continent. Three centuries before the apparitions at Lourdes, our Lady appeared in America and left her miraculous image in Guadalupe, then a suburb, now part of Mexico City. Every year many Americans join their fellow Catholics of the South in paying homage to Our Lady of Guadalupe. Again and again the Holy Father has joined them in spirit, and ten years ago he proclaimed Our Lady of Guadalupe patroness of America, with the title of "Empress." The outline of the history is familiar to all religious. But not all may realize bow completely reliable and authentic are.our sources, Bishop Schlarman's Mexico Land o# Volcanoes indicates a number of scientific historians who have studied the question. Principal among them are Fathers Bravo Ugarte and Cuevas. In the following pages we present a close English translation of a document that goes back to the very period of the miracle and is accepted as historical. It was written by an Indian, Antonio Valer-iano, a relative of the Aztec Emperor Montezuma. Valeriano com-posed his text in his own language, some ten years after the event (December 12, 1531). It was translated recently into Spanish by Primo Veliano Velazquez, and this translation was made from the Spanish. A word about the style. The original, we are told, is written in the very formal style of the period: the Spanish translator has kept this blend of formality and naivet~. The present translator has tried to preserve some of the charm and simplicity, together with what to us might seem artificiality. But his main effort has been to give a faithful version of the document, even to the point of literalness.--C. J. McNAspY, S.J. ANTHONY'S STORY Herein is told how the ever Virgin Mary, Mother of God, our Queen, most marvelously appeared not long ago in Tepeyac, which is called Guadalupe. First she allowed herself to be seen by a poor Indian whose name was Juan Diego; then her precious image was made manifest before the new bishop, Fray Juan de Zumarr~ga; and then came all the miracles which she has accomplished. 113 EMPRESS OF AMERICA Reoiew [or Religious Te'n years after the capture of the City of Mexico, when war ceased and there was p~ace among the peoples, there began to blos-son the faith and knowledge of the true God by whom we live. In those days, in the year 1531, early in the mon.th of December, it b'appened that tber~ lived a poor Indian, by name Juan Diego, arid as it is related, a native of Cuautitlan, which in m~tt~rs spiritual then belonged to Tlatilolco. Very early on the morning of Sal~ur-day, Juan Diego was coming by in order that be might pay wbrsbip to God 'and perform some errands. He arrived at the hill called Tepeyacac when it was dawn. He heard a singing above the hill, a~ singing which seemed the song.of various precious birds, although at times, when the voices of the singers were silent, it seemed "that the mountain answered them. Their song was very gentle and de-" ligbt,ful, surpassing that of the Coyoltototl and the Tzinizcan and the other beautiful birds that sing. Juan Diego stopped to look and said within himself, Can it be that I am worthy of what I am hearirig? It may be I am dreaming. Did I arise from sleep? Where am I? Am I, perhaps, in the earthly paradise that the ancients, our ancestors, spoke of? Or it may be I am in heaven. 'But as be turned his bead toward the east, above the hill, whence the precious heav-enly song was proceeding, it suddenly ceased; and there was silence; and he l~eard himself called from above the hill, "duanito, duan Dieguito." So he m~de bold to go whither he was called, nor was he fright-ened for a moment; but, on the contrary, happily he climbed the bill to see whence .he was being summoned: and, arriving at the summit, he saw a lady standing there and telling him to come closer. Now wb~n he came inl~o her presence he marveled mU'db bet more than human glory, for her clothes did shine like 'the sun, and the rock on which she stood was struck with splendor and ap-pear. ed like a bracelet of precious stones, and the earth shone like a rainbow. The mezquites, nopals, and other different bushes that are usually there seemed like emeralds, their leaves like fine tur-quoises, and their branches and thorns did shine like gold. Juan bowed down before her and beard bet word, very gentle and polite, as. that of one who is. very attractive and much esteemed. She said to him, "Juanito, thou smallest of my sons, .where art thou going?" He replied, "Lady and my Child,.I .must g9 to thy house of Tlati-lolco to attend to divine matters that our.priests, the delegates of our Lord, give and teach us." Then she spoke to him and told him her holy will~ saying, "Know thou and understand, thou "the least ll~t May, 1955 " EMPRESS OF AMERICA of my sons, that I am the ever Virgin Mary, Mother of the true God, by whom we live; of the Creator by whom all things have their 'being; of the Lord of heaven and of earth. Know thou that it is my strong wish that a church be built here for me, in order that I may manifest and bestow all my love, compassion, aid, and protection; for I am thy loving mother, thine, and .mother of all them that dwell in this land and of those others who love me, call upon me, and trust in me. For it is my will to listen to their cries, grief, and sorrows. Wherefore, in order that I may accomplish this my wish, thou shalt go to the palace of the Bishop of Mexico and relate to him that I send thee to manifest to him this strongest de-sire of mine, that he should build a church for me here; and thou shalt relate to him exactly all that thou hast .seen and admired, and that thou hast heard. And know thou that I will be grateful to thee and will repay.thee, for I will make thee happy and thou wilt deserve much that I should reward the work and trouble by which thou wilt obtain what I ask of thee. Take care that thou hearken to my command, my smallest son. Go and strive with all thy might that thou brin~' it about." He then did reverence before her and said, "My Lady, I go now to fulfill thy command; I leave thee for the present, I thy humble servant." Then he went dowh tO do her command, and he went by the road that leads straight to Mexico. Entering the City, he came straightway to the palace of the Bishop, who was the prelate ~hat had newly arrived and who was called Fray Juan de Zumarraga, being a religious of St. Francis. Scarcely had Juan Diego arrived, when he tried to see the Bishop, asking the servants to go and announce him; who after a good while came to call him, for their Lord Bishop had given order that he should enter. And when he had entered, he bowed and genuflected before the Bishop; immediately he gave him the message of the Lady of Heaven, relating.to him all he had admired, seen, and heard. The Bishop, after he had heard all his words and message, seemed not to believe him, for he ar~swered him thus, "Thou wilt come again, my son, and I shall hear thee more slowly, and I shrill con-sider all from the very beginning and shall ponder the desire and wish with which thou hast come." So Juan went out and grew sad, fbr his message had not been in any way accomplished. Now, on the same day, as Juan returned to the summit of the hill, he came upon the Lady of Heaven, who was awaiting him in the very place where he had seen her the first time. Seeing her, he 115 EMPRESS OF: AMERICA Reoiew for Religious prostrated before her and said, "Lady, thou the smallest of my daughters and my child, I went where thou didst send me to carry out thy cofnmand; with difficulty I entered where the Bishop dwelt; I saw him and presented thy message as thou didst tell me. Sure enough, he received me kindly and listened to me attentively; yet, from what he replied, it appeared to me that be did not believe me. He said, 'Thou wilt come again. I shall listen to thee more slowly. I shall examine from the very beginning the desire and wish with which thou hast come.' I understood perfectly by his manner of answering me that he thinks that it may be I made up myself the story that thou dost wish a church to be built here, and that perhaps it is not thy order. For this reason, I earnestly beg of thee, my Lady and Child, that thou entrust tby message to those who are important, well known, respected, and esteemed, so that he may be believed. For I am dust a little man, a string, a little ladder, jus~ a tail, a leaf, a nobody; and thou, my Child, the small-est of my daughters, Lady, art sending me to a place where I never go. Forgive me for causing thee great sorrow and for falling into thy displeasure, my Lady." The most holy Virgin answered,him, "Listen, my smallest son, and understand that many are my servants and messengers whom I can summon to bring my message and do my will. But it is quite necessary that thou thyself should ask and help, and that my will be carried out by thee. I beg of thee, my smallest son, and I strongly command thee, to go again tomorrow to see the Bishop. In my name tell him my will: that be must build the church that I ask. And remind him that it is I myself, the ever Virgin Mary, Mother of God, who send thee." 3uan Diego rel~li~d, "My Lady and my Child, do not be grieved. I shall gladly go to carry out thy command. I shall not fail in any way to do it, nc,r do I think the way is difficult. I shall go to do thy will; now it may be I shall not be heard agreeably; or if I am heard, it may be I shall not be believed. Yet, tomorrow evening, when the sun is setting, I will come to give an account of tby, message and the Bishop's reply. Now I leave thee, my smallest daughter, my Child and my Lady. Meanwhile, sleep well." And he went to rest in 10is own house. On the following day, which was Sunday, very early in the morning 3uan Diego left his house and came straightway to Tlati-lolc6, that he might be instructed in divine things and there be pres-ent for the roll call, and later go to the prelate. After Mass, the 116 Ma~l, 1955 EMPRESS OF AMERICA roll call having been completed., the people dispersed. Juan Diego immediately went on to the palace of the Lord Bishop. Scarcely had he arrived, when he exerted every effort to see him again, but he saw' him only with much difficulty. Juan knelt at his feet, mourning and weeping as he related the command of the Lady of Heaven. Would that the BiShop would believe his message and the will of the Immaculate One to build her church wh~re she said she wanted it. The Lord Bishop, that he might gather more inl~orma-tion, asked him many things: where Juan had seen her and how it had come to pass; and he told the Lord Bishop everything per-fectly. But though he explained exactly how she had appeared and how mu~h he had seen and admired, and that she had revealed that she was the ever Virgin, the most holy Mother of our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ; nevertheless, the prelate did not believe him,, replying that he would not have it to be done on his word and petition alone, but that some sigma was necessary for him to be able to believe that the very Lady of Heaven was sending Juan' Diego'. Hearing this, Juan Diego replied to the Bishop, "My Lord, think of what must be the sign that thou dost ask, for now I shall go "to ask it of the Lady of Heaven who sent me hither." The Bishop, seeing that Juan held to all things without hesitation and retracted no.thing, dismissed him. 'At the same time he com-missioned some men of his house, in whom he could trust, to follow "Juan and watch whither he might go and whomever he might see and with whom he might speak. And this is what came to pass. Although Juan Diego made his way straight and followed the road, those who came behind him lost track of him, where the ravine passes near the bridge of Tepeyacac, and though they sought him every- 'where, they did not see him. Wherefore they returned, not only because they had grown weary, but also because their purpose had been blocked, and this caused them anger. They went to report to the Lord Bishop, urging him not to believe Juan, and saying that :he was but a deceiver and had made up the story, or that he was only dreaming what he had said and asked. Finally they suggested that if Juan should return, they might take him and punish him severely, so that he would never again lie or deceive another. Meanwhile, Juan Diego was with themost holy Virgin, r~lat-ing to her the answer that he brought from the Lord Bishop. And she, having heard, said, "It is' well, my little son. Thou wilt re-turn here tomorrow to bring the Bishop the sign that he has asked. With this he will believe thee, and about this request he will no longer 117 EMPRESS OF AMERICA "Ret~iew .for Religiou, doubt nor suspect thee. And know, my little sonl that I shall repay thy care and the work and weariness that thou hast undergone for me. Well, then, I shall expect thee here tomorrow." But on the following day, Monday, on which Juan" Diego was to bring a sign in order that he be believed, he did not return. For when he arrived at his house he found that his uncle Juan Bernardino had been taken very ill. Straightway he went to summon a doctor and some help. But there were no free moments now, for the ill-. heSS was indeed great. That night his uncle besought him to leave early in the morning and come to Tlatilolco that he might call a priest to come and hear his confession and make him ready, for he was very certain that it was his timeto die and that he would never arise nor be strong again. Early in the morning, Tuesday, Juan Diego departed from his house for Tlatilolco to summon the priest. When he reached the road that was at the foot of the hill'of Tepeyacac, toward the west, where it was his custom to go by, he said, "If I make my way straight, it may be the Lady will see me and will surely stop me so that I may bring the sign to the Bishop as she told me. First, however, let us care for the trouble in hand; wherefore, I should call the priest quickly, for my poor uncle is-surely waiting for him." Then turning to the hill he climbed it and passed over onto .the other side toward the east, so that he might reach Mexico quickly and that the Lady of Heaven might not cause him delay. For he thought to avoid the eyes of her to whom all things fire present in sight. He saw her descending from the hill and with her gaze fixed upon him before even he had seen her. And she came up to meet him at a side of the hill and said to him, "What is it that troubles thee, my smallest son? Whither art thou going?" He was saddened somewhat, or perhaps ashamed or frightened. He 'bowed before her and saluted her saying, "My Child, the smallest of my daugh-ters, my Lady, I hope thou art happy. How art thou this m.drning? Art thou in good health, my Lady and my Child? For I shall bring thee sorrow. Thou knowest,.my Child, that my uncle, thy poor servant, is exceedingly ill. He is stricken by the plague and is on the point of dying. I am now hastening to thy house in Mexico to call one of the priests loved by our Lord to come and hear his confession and make him ready, for we who are born do all await the hardship of our death. And though I am departing to do this thing, yet will I afterwards return hither and bear thy. message, my Lady and my Child. Forgive me. Be, patient for a while. I EMPRESS OF: AMERICA will not deceive thee, my smallest daughter. Tomorrow I shall come and in great haste." After hearing the words of Juan Diego, the most loving Virgin made her answer, "Listen and understand, my smallest son. That Which troubles and afflicts thee is nothing, Do not let thy heart be saddened. Do not fear this illness nor any other illness or anxiety. Am I not here, thy Mother? Dost thou not stand under my shadow? Am I not thy health? Dost thou not rest on my lap? What else then dost thou need? Let nothing make thee troubled or unhappy. Be not afflicted by thy uncle's illness, for he will not die of it at this time. For know that he is already well." (And then it was that she healed his uncle, as was discovered afterwards.) Now, when Juan Diego had heard these words of the Lady of Heaven, he felt a deep consolation and happiness, and asked that she send him without delay to see the Bishop and bring him some .sign and proof, so that he might believe. Then the Lady of Heaven told him to ascend the summit of the hill where he had seen her before. "Climb up, my smallest son," she said, "to the top of the hill; where thou didst see me and I gave thee orders thou shalt find different flowers. Cut them and gather them. Then come and bring them to me." Juan ,Diego straightway climbed the hill; and, when he reached the top, he was astonished to find that thebe had blossomed before their season so great a number of various exquisite roses of Castille; for at that time of the year the ice was very severe. The roses ~ave off a great fragrance and were filled with the dew of night that seemed like' precious pearls. Forthwith he began to cut them, joining them togdther and putting them into his cloak-fold. Now, the top of the hill was not.a place where any flowers grew, for it had many rocks, thistles, thorns, nopales, and mezquites. And even if there had been little plants, at that time it was the month of December in which the frost eats and spoils everything. He clambered down without delay and brought the Lady of Heaven the various roses that he had gone to cut. When she saw them she gathered them in he~ hand and again placed them in his bosom saying, ~'My sr~all-est son, these roses of various kind are the proof and sign that thou wilt bring the Bishop. Thou wilt tell him in my name to see my will in this sign and to carry it out. Thou art my ambassador, worthy of confidencd. I strictly order thee to unfold thy mantle and show what thou art bringing before the Bishop alone. Thou wilt relate everything. Thou wilt say that I told thee to climb to 119 'EMPRESS OF ~IMERICA Review for R~ligious the stimmit of the hill to cut flowers, and all that thou didst see and admire, that thou mightest persuade the prelate to lend his hand in the building of the church which I have.requested." After the Lady of Heaven had given him her charge, be started on the way that leads straight to Mexico, happy and sure of sucdess, carefully bearing his burden in his bosom, so that notbng would fall from his hands, and enjoying the fragrance of the various kinds of beau-tiful, flowers. When he had arrived at the palace of the Bishop, the majordomo and other servants of the prelate came out to meet him. He asked them to tell the Bishop that he wished to see him. Yet none of them was willing and acted as if they had not heard him, because it was very early; or perchance they had recognized him and thought him a nuisance. .Besides, they had h~ard from their dompanions how they lost sight of him when their had followed him the day before. Hence, Juan Diego was there many hours waiting. Afte~ a time they noted that be bad been there a long time, standing, downcast, doing nothing. Noticing that he seemed to be carrying something in his bosom, they came near t6 see what it was and to satisfy them-selves. Juan Diego saw that he could not hide his burden withou~ their molesting and manhandling or beating him; so he opened his mantle a little and showed that it contained flowers. They, perceiv-ing that there were various kinds of roses of Castille and re~ilizing that it was not then the season for them to bloom, were greatly taken aback, especially because the flowers .were very fresh, in full "bloom, fragrant and precious, They wanted to take some, but when they dared to touch them they met no success; for when their hands drew near, they saw no true flowers but what seemed to have been painted or'engraved or sewed on the mantle. They went thereupon to tell the Bishop what they had seen and that the little Indian who had come so many times now desired to see him and that be bad been w~iting a long time. Hearing this, the ,Bishop thought that this would be the proof to certify a'nd carry out what the Indian asked. Immediately he ordered Juan to come in. When he entered, Juan did reverence before the Bishop as he had done before, and again relating everything that he had seen and admired, he delivered his .message. "My Lord," said he. "I did what thou didst order me. I went to tell my Mistress, the Lady of Heaven, Holy Mary, the precious Mother of God, that thou didst desire a sign that thou mightest be able to believe me before thou were to make the church where she requested it. I told her 120 May, 1955 EMPRESS' OF ,AMERIC,~ besides that I had given thee my word to bring some sign and proof of her will, as thou. didst demand. She received thy message and kindly granted what thou dost ask, a sign and proof that her will be done. Very early this morning she told me to come again to see thee~ I asked for,the, sign so that thou mightest believe me, which she promised she would give. Immediately she fulfilled the promise: she sent me to the summit of the hill, where I had seen her before, to cut various roses of Castille. And after I went to cut them, I brought them down and she gathered them in her hand and .again put them into my bosom for. me to bring to thee in. person. For, although I knew that at t~e top of the hill there is no place where flowers grow, for there are onl~ rocks, thistles, thorns, nopale~, and mezquites, .I did not doubt. And when I had reached the summit, I saw that I was in a paradise where were all the varied and exquisit~ roses of Castille, sparkling with dew, and these I began to cut. She told me to give them to thee. And so I now" do, so that thou mayest see in them the sign that thou askest and mayest carry out her will,. and-so that the" truth of the words of my message may be made manifest. Here they are; do thou receive them." Then he unwrapped his ~¢hite maiatle which held the roses in its fold. As they were scattered on the floor, all these differentroses of Castille, suddenly there appeared drawn on' the mantle the precious image of the ever Virgin Mary, Mother of God, as it,exists and is preserved today in bei- church of Tepeyacac, which is .called Guadalupe. When the Lord'Bisbop bad seen this, be and all w.bo were there knelt down and greatly admired it. And when they arose they were sad and grieved, for they had gaZed upon the image with their whole heart and mind. With tears of sorrow the Lord Bishop earnestly begged pardon for not baying carried out our Lady's will and command. When he had arisen he loosed the garment from 3uan Diego's neck, the mantle on which appea~ed the image of the Lady of Heaven. And taking it he Went' to place it ifi hi~ oratory. 3uan Dieg6, therefore, at the Bishop's command, remained one day more in the Bishop'~ house. The next day the prelate said, "Now show where it is the will of the Lady of Heaven that her church be built." And im-mediately he invited all to take part in the building. '3uan Diego had hardly indicated where the Lady.of~ Heaven had Ordered that her church be built when he asked permission to leave. Hewished now to hasten home and see his uncle 3uan Ber-' nar~tino, who had been very ill when bedeparted for Thtilolco to 121 EMPRESS OF AMERICA call a priest who might hear his confession and make him ready, on that day when the Lady of Heaven told him that he was already made well. Yet the people did not permit 3uan to return alone, but accompanied him to his house. And when they arrived they saw his uncle, who was very cheerful and felt no suffering. He was very much surprised that his nephew arrived surrounded and honored, and he asked him the reason why they were acting so and doing him such reverence. His nephew replied that when he went to call the priest to hear his confession and make him ready, the Lady of Heaven had appeared to him in Tepeyacac, that she told him not to be distressed, for his uncle was alrea~ly well, and that he had felt much consoled. She had sent him to Mexico to see the Lord Bishop in order to have a church built in Tepeyacac. His uncle re-lated that he was certain that it was she who had healed him at the moment, for he had seen her in the same way in which she appeared to his nephew, and had learned from her that she had sent him to Mexico to see the Bishop. Then had the Lady also told Bernardlno that when 3uan went to see the Bishop he should reveal what he had seen and the miraculous way in which she had cured him; and that he should tell the Bishop to call her (for it was fitting that her blessed image be so called) the ever Virgin Holy Mary of Guadalupe. Then they brought 3uan Bernardino into the presence of the Lord Bishop, to come and tell the story and give testimony in his presence. The Bishop received them both as guests iri his house several days, until the church of the Queen was built in Tepeyacac where 3uan Diego had seen her. The Lord Bishop also brought the holy picture of the beloved Lady of Heaven to the principal church, removing it from the oratory of his palace where it had been, so that all the people might see and admire the blessed likeness. The entire city was moved and came to see and admire the pious image and offer prayers. They were astonished that it had appeared by a divine miracle, for no person in this world painted her precious image. SURSUM CORDA Sursurn Corda is a new review for priests and religious, published by the Fran-ciscan Fathers. Its second number (February, 1955) contains the Address of His Excellency the Apostolic Delegate, Archbishop Carboni, to the First Congress of Religious Women of Australia, New Zealand, and Oceania, held at Rose Bay, Sydney, N.S.W., January 18, 1955. The editorial and business address is: 45 Victoria St., Waverly, N.S.W., Australia. 122 ' Pope Plus XII and !:he Religious Lil:e [EDITORS' NOTE: This valuable compilation of papal texts was made by Joseph F. Gallen, S.3. The first installment was published in our January number, pp. 3-11 ; the second in March, pp. 85-92. In his own iintroduction, Father Gallen ex-plained his selection of texts and his methods of reference. To facilitate reading the present installment, it is sufficient to recall that statements preceded by an asterisk were not made directly and ex.plicitly to or of religious and that all paragraphs ex- ¯ cept number 39 are taken from the Acta Apostolicae Sedis, the first number being the volume, the second the year, I~nd the third the page.] IV. THE VOWS 47. Pouertg. "The law of life itself demands the union of the old and the new that life may be ever the same and yet ever vigorous. Therefore, preserve fully and exactly, that form of religious life for whose observance and expression you have arisen in the Church. Certainly that which your glorious predecessors proposed to them-selves and to their" fellow-religious, also of the future, to be guarded with the utmost exertion, was evangelical poverty according to the law and example of the patriarch of Assisi. What an offscouring .of evils has arisen from the accursed thirst for riches! It is thee cause of wars, seditions, hunger, weakening of morals, of destruction. The abnormal disparity between those of excessive, wealth and those wasted by misery and want gives rise to fatal sources of cor-ruption. An admirable remedy for this calamity and corruption is the example of evangelical poverty. This is the attendant from heaven of the precept of labor, the friend of virtue, the teacher of nations, the protection and glory of the Kingdom of Christ, the most faithful preserver of a better hope. Its glorious standard has been entrusted to your hands; preserve it unstained. It is dishonorable to profess poverty in the dissimulation and fallacies of word and to destroy it in fact. Individual religious institutes, due to their growth and increase, may need more and larger houses. It is licit to secure these, but proper moderation and proportion are to be observed. Do not permit the beauty of poverty that is mani~fest in your habit and clothing to be lamentably clouded by sumptuous dwellings and delicate pleasures and comforts of life nor that your conduct contradict your words." Allocution to Fathers of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, 40-1948-551, 552. *48. "But even here a 'due measure and discretion' is to be ob- 123 POPE PlUS XlI Religious served, lest it ever .happen that those [seminarians] who must be trained 'tb 's~lf'-d£ni~aF and evangelical virtue live 'in palatial houses and luxurimls ease.and comfort. Apostolic Exhortation, "Menti Nostrae," 42-1950-685. *49. Chastit~l. "The pries.tly office demands from you,'We might say, exceptional sacrifices, and of these the: most outstanding is the complete sacrifice of one's self in al'legian~e to Christ by celibfic}. You must examine yourselves! If any find that they are incapable of:'observing .celi~ac3(,, We beseech them to leave the seminary and to devote themselves to another calling i~. which they will achieve a morally upright and fruitful life, impossible for them in the sanc-tuary without danger to their own eternal salvation and of dishonor for the Church." Address to theStudents o[ the Roman,Serninarie.s, Colleges, and Institutions, 31-1939-249, 250. ,. 50. "In tl~is earthly exile nothing indeed is more b~autiful, nothing more lovable than the immaculate splendor of virginity that shines from the face, the eyes and the affections and gently excites directs others to heavenly 'things. If the flame of divine charit-y is added to the brightness of this unsullied integrity, the resul{ 'i's something .that deeply moves the minds of men, powerfully attract~ their wills and inspires'them to the noble deeds that Christian virtue alone Can effect." Carbonization of B. M. Capitan,'o and C. V. Gerosa, 42-1950-418. '51. "Watchful and attentive care must be taken to make~sur~ that recruits for the sacred militia have great esteem for chastity, love and preserve it, since it. is one of the' main reasons why they have Chosen this.type of life and" persevere ih this vocation. The faci that in the course of human contactS this virtue is exposed to such great dangers demands that in those Who are to take upon them! selves the dignity of the priesthood purity :should "be of long stand'-:" ing anddeeply rooted. Hence, not only should clerics be ~ad~ aware at the proper time of the meaning of priestly celibacy and of tl~e chas~ffy they must practice, as well as of the obligatiotis entails, but they should also be warned of the dangers they ma~ encounter. Seminarians should likewise be urged to avoid from their earliest years all dangers to purity b~" recourse to those method~ of restraining the passions that are recommended by the masters of the spiritual life. Their progress in other virtues and the richnes~ of the fruits of their priestly zeal will be in proportion to the firmness and constancy' of thei'r control of their passions. Should h young 124 Ma~!, 1955 THE RELIGIOUS LIFE cleric prove to have a tendency to evil and be unable to break off his bad habit after a suitable time of trial, he should be obliged to. withdraw from the seminary before receiving sacred orders." Apos-tolic Exhortation, 'Menti Nostrae," 42-1950-690, 691. 52. "Therefore this modesty is not to be construed as equi'valent to perpetual silenc~ on matters of chastity nor to forbid in the train-ing of character that a temperate and pru'dent word be ever spoken on this matter. In these things youths are to be instructed with suitable counsels, they are to be permitted to manifest their' problems, to ask questions freely, they are to be given sound, clear answers and an explanation sufficient to impart both light and confidence." Allocution to Teachers of the Order of Discatced Carmelites, 43- 1951-736. 53. "Chastity and virginity (which implies also the interior re-nunciation of every sensual affection) does not make the soul a stranger to the world. It rather awakens and develops the energies for greater and higher duties that surpass the confines of individual families. There are today many teaching sisters and sister nurses who, in the better sense of the word, are closer to life than the or-dinary persons of the world." Apostolic Exhortation to the Inter-national Conoention of Teaching Sisters, 43-1951-741. 54. "Today We wish to speak only to those, whether priests or laymen, preachers, public speakers and writers, who have not a word of approval or praise for virginity vowed to Christ, who for years past, contrary to the warnings of the Church and in oppo-sition to her thought, have in principle given marriage the prefer-ence over virginity and who have gone so far as to present marriage as the only means capable of assuring its development and natural perfection to the human personality. Those who speak and write iri this manner are to take cognizance of their responsibility before God and the Church. They are largely to blame for.a fact that We can mention to you only with sadness. Today more than ever there are repeated requests for Catholic sisters from the Christian world and from outside it, and one after anothe¢ they must be given a sorrowful refusal; at times even works of long standing, hospitals and educational establishments must be abandoned--all because vocations are not sufficient for the needs." Address to the Congress of Mothers General, 44-1952-825. *55. "Here We must add, as the holy fathers and doctors of the Church have so clearly taught, that virginity is not a Christian 125 POPE PIUS XlI Review for Religious virtue unless embraced 'for the kingdom of heaven,' that is, unless its motive is to devote oneself more readily" to divine things, greater security in the attainmefit of eternal happiness and finally greater freedom for a zealous devotion also to the eternal salvation of others. They cannot claim the honor of Christian virginity who abstain, from marriage from excessive selfishness,, or to escape its obligations . . . or to make a proud and pharisaical boast of the integrity of their bodies, : . . a virgin is not to refrain from mar-riage as something ugly but because of the beauty and sanctity of virginity . Accordingly, this is the primary motive, the principal reason for Christian virginity: to strive only for the things of heaven and to direct the mind and heart to divine things, to please God in everything, to meditate on Him deeply, and to consecrate body and soul to Him entirely . It is evidently the love of Christ that persuades the virgin to flee to the cloisters of the mon-astery and to remain there forever that she may more freely and easily devote herself to the contemplation and love of her Divine Spouse; it is the love of Christ that profoundly moves her to un-dertake with all h~r strength and even to death works of mercy for her neighbor." Enc~tclical Letter on Sacred Vlrginit~t, 46-1954- 164, 165, 167. *56. "Before entering on such a very narrow path, all whose experience has shown them that they are very weak in this matter shall humbly heed the warning of Paul the Apostle: 'But if they do not contain themselves, let them marry. For it is better to marry than to be burnt.' There are many for whom the burden of per-fect chastity would evidently be so onerous that it could not be counselled to them. In the same way, priests who have the serious duty of counselling youths who say that they feel drawn to the priesthood or religious life are to urge them to give the mattercare-ful consideration, lest they enter on a way of life that they cannot hope to travel constantly and successfully to its end. Such priests are to give prudent thought to this suitability and, if judged ex-pedient, shall seek skilled advice. If a serious doubt remains, espe-cially if founded on the facts of their past lives, priests shall oblige such candidates to give up the intention of entering on the state of perfect chastity and forbid them admission to sacred orders or religious profession." Enc!jclical Letter on Sacred Virginit~l, 46- 1954-180, I8i. 57. Obedience. "Another effect will be that your obedience will 126 May, 1955 THE RELIGIOUS LIFE be established on a perpetually unshakeable foundation. Your stan-dard, your glory, your strength is your obedience. This above all must make you completely docile to the will of your superiors, with-out complaints, without murmur, without that reprehensible criti-cism, the disease of our age, which enfeebles the strength of men and renders their apostolic efforts sluggish and fruitless. The heavy burden imposed by your austere obedience will become light if you are motivated by charity. If charity is present, God is present, be-cause 'God is charity.' Therefore; let there be in you 'charity from a pure heart, and a good conscience, and an unfeigned faith.' " Atlocution to the XXIX General Congregation of the Societ~t of desus, 38-1946-383, 384. 58. "Indeed some praise as the real peak of moral perfection, not the surrender of liberty for the love of Christ, but the curbing of such surrender. The norm therefore to be preferred in the forma-tion of a just and holy person would be this: restrict liberty only where necessary; otherwise, give liberty free rein as far as possible. We transmit the question whether this new foundation 6n which some are trying to erect the edifice of sanctity will be as effective and as solid in supporting and augmenting the apostolic work of the Church as was the one which through fifteen hundred years has been provided by that ancient rule of obedience undertaken for love of Christ . No one is obliged to choose for himself the counsel of perfect obedience, which essentially is a rule of life whereby one surrenders the control of his own will . But words must be understood and accepted according to their obvious meaning, and if this norm is compared with the vow of obedience, it surely does not possess the same supreme value, nor is it an expression of the wonderful example recorded in Holy Scripture: 'He humbled Him-self becoming obedient unto death.' Therefore be is deceived him-self and deceives others who, forgetting the propensities of the soul and the inspiration of divine grace, offers as a guide to one seeking advice about entering the religious state only that new norm. Hence if it is clear that the voice of God is calling someone to the heights of evangelical perfection, without any besitatior~ be should be invited for the attainment of this lofty purpose to offer freely the sacrifice of his liberty as the vow of obedience demands, that vow, We proclaim, which the Church through so many centuries has weighed, has put to the test, has properly delineated and has ap-proved. Let no one be compelled to this self-consecration against 127 PoPE PlUS XlI Review ~:or Reliyfous his will; but if be.does will it, let'no one counsel him against it; above all, let no one hold him back." Address to the Genera[ Con-gress or) the States of Pe.rfectfor), 43-1951-31. 59. "It is certainly of supreme importance that supernatural obedi-ence, motivated by an ardent love of God, should be firmly, insist-ently and fervently fostered, and prevail, according to the norm of their laws; in religious houses. Doesn't the solid support of re-ligious discipline and life have its foundation here? Isn't the past or future success of the great undertakings that religious have and will accomplish to be .attributed solely to the un'iOn of tbeir force's by obedience? You must therefore recognize, r~spect and gladly accept the salutary yoke of obedience as the burden of the brave. However, in our day, in which the machine holds universal sway, wben the mechanical arts bare penetrated everywhere, absorb us and fashion everything to their image, superiors are to be careful not to treat their subjects almost as merchandise or parts Of a ma-cbine but they are always to respect the human person." Allocution to Teachers of the Order of Discalced Carmelites', 43-1951 - 736. V. PARTICULAR VIRTUES 60. Necessity of it)terror life. "But this also, as far as you can, you sbould accomplisb. . . tbat all wbom you can reacb are to be taugbt that notbing is preferable, nothing more necessary than that all should adorn their souls with heavenly virtues and especially that they should foster the divine life from which such virtues arise and grow. Whoever neglects this interior and supernatural life, v~hicfi is nourished by divine grace, whoe~'er devotes himself only to ex.- ternals, even if praiseworthy and adapted to the times, sooner or later realizes that he has given himself to a sterile and perishabl~ work. You know that 'every best gift, and every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights'; therefore, everythin~g also appertaining to the apostolate will be vain and empty unless moved b'y the spirit that is from God." Letter ob the Fifth Centenar~t of the Death of St. Colette, 40-1948-105, 106. 61. "With the same devotion that you cherish religious poverty in external matters you are to accumulate the v~ealth of a true in-terior life and to acquire spiritual riches: love of God and your ~aeighbor, real penance, a knowledge of sacred sciences, and a burn-ing desire to extend the Ki.ngdom of Christ. It is your duty to be conspicuous by a simplicity of conduct, a splendor of goodnesS, a brightness of holy joy, in your sacred ministry humbly to serve 128 May, 1955 "~HE RELIGIOUS LIFE the humble, especially the poorer, whom now evil men by so many evil arts strive to bind to themselves, to favor and assist." Allocu-tion to Fathers of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, 40-1948-! 552. 62. "The most active zeal can be closely allied with the quest for the riches of the interior life . An eager external activity and the cultivation of the interior life demand more than a bond of fellowship; as far at least as evaluation and willed effort are con-cerned, they demand that they should march along together step by step. With the growth of devotion~ to exterior works therefore, let there shine forth a cor~espdnding increase in faith, in the life of prayer, in zealous consecration of self and talents to God, in spotless purity of conscience, in obedience, in patient endurance of hardship, and in active charity tirelessly expend.ed for God and one's neighbor . The Church insistently demands of you that your external works correspond to your interior life and that these two: maintain a constant balance." Address to the General Con-gress on the States of Perfection, 43-1951-32. *63. Charity. "But legitimate and well-ordered love of our native country should not make us close our eyes to the all-embracing nature of Christian charity, which calls for consideration of others and of their interests in the pacifying light of love." Encyclical Letter, "Sumni Pontit~catus," 31-1939-549. *64. Prayer. Its necessity. "Your divine vocation is to prepare the way in the souls of men for the love and grace of Jesus Christ. This cannot be accomplished unless you yourselves are already im-bued with that love. Enkindle the love of Christ in yourselves by union with Christ in prayer and sacrifice. By uhion, We say, in prayer. If you ask Us what word We have at the beginning of Our pontificate for the priests of the Catholic Church, We reply: pray, pray more ~nd more, and more insistently! By union also in sacri-fice: in the Eucharistic Sacrifice, but not only in the Eucharistic Sacrifice but also in a certain sacrifice of one's self. You realize that one of the effects of the Most Holy Eucharist is to confer strength to sacrifice and deny themselves on those who assist and receive. The various forms of Christian asceticism may continue to differ with regard to many secondary principles but none of them knows any way to the love of God that does not demand sacrifice also of one's self. Christ demanded this of His followers when He said: 'If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up 129 Reuiew for Religious his cross daily, and follow me.' In explicit language He defined the way to the love of God as the observance of the divine ~com-mandments. Finally, especially to His apostles He addressed that wonderful sentence: 'Amen, amen I say to you, unless the grain of wheat failing into the ground die, itself remaineth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.' " Address to the Students of the Roman Seminaries, Colleges, and Institutions, 31-1939-249. *65. "For such a formation of spirit We recommend prayer above everything else, as We have already said to the students of the sanc-tuary in their first gathering before Us. Pray, pray, pray; prayer is the key of the treasures of God; it is the weapon of combat and of victory in every struggle .for good and against evil. What can-not prayer accomplish by adoration, propitiation, petition, thanks-giving?" Address to Italian Catholic Action, 32-1940-368. *66. Necessity of mental pra~ter. "Genuine and real piety, which the Angelic Doctor calls 'devotion,' and which is the principal act of the virtue of religion, that act which correctly relates and properly directs men to God and by which they free!y and spontaneously give themselves to everything pertaining to the worship ~f God, needs meditation on the supernatural realities and spiritual exercises if it is to be nurtured, stimulated, sustained and is to prompt us to a more perfect life . Since our hearts, disturbed as they are at times by the lower appetites, do not always respond to motives of love, it is also extremely helpful to allow consideration and con-templation ~)f the justice of God to excite us on occasion to salutary fear and guide us thence to Christian humility, repentance and amendment." Encyclical Letter, "Mediator Dei," 39-1947-534, 535. *67. "First of all, the Church exhorts us to holy meditation, which elevates the mind to things of heaven, draws our thoughts to the supernatural and, once our soul has been inflamed with the desire of God, directs it to Him along the path of right reason . Now it is absolutely essential that sacred ministers should most diligently reproduce in their own lives these examples from the Gospel and the virtues of our Divine Redeemer. But just as bodily food does not nourish, sustain and increase life unless it is digested and be-comes part of our own substance, so also unless the priest by medi-tation and contemplation on the mysteries of our Divine Redeemer --who indeed is the supreme and absolute Exemplar of perfection and the inexhaustible fountain of holiness--lives the life of this same Redeemer, he cannot gain control over himself ~ind his senses, 130 Mag, 1955 THE RELIGIOUS LIFE purify his soul, strive for virtue as be should, nor lastly discharge his sacred duties faithfully, zealously and fruitfully . Where-fore, in all truth must We assert that the special efficacy attached to meditation cannot be supplied by any other means and conse-quently that nothing else can replace the practice of daily medita-tion." Apostolic Exhortation, 'Menti Nostrae,' 42-1950-672. *68. Efficac~t of private pra~ter. "There are others who deny any impetratory powers to our prayers and spread abroad the idea that prayers offered to God in private are of little value. Public prayers, that are made in the name of the Church, are those that really avail, since they come from the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ. Such an opinion is false; for the Divine Redeemer maintains closest union not only with His Church, which is His beloved Spouse, but also with each and every faithful soul in it, and He longs to speak with them heart to heart, especially after Holy Communion. It is true that public prayers, since they are offered by Mother Church and because of the dignity of the Spouse of Christ, excel any other kind of prayer; but no prayer, even the most private, lacks its own dignity and power, and all prayer is immensely helpful to the en-tire Mystical Body." Enc~tclical Letter, 'Mgstici Corporis," 35- 1943-235, 236. 69. "But here also there can be a sin of excess. There are some whose extravagant praise of the liturgical forms of the ancient ages easily leads them to a confempt of those of the later centuries and to despise private and popular prayers. Liturgy, which means all forms of worship established by ecclesiastical authority, is something last-ing and living that grows through the cefituries. An attraction for the youthful years must not result in a contempt for the older years . The essential thing in divine worship and the care of souls is always that the followers of the Gospel in the innermost depths of a good conscience seek God, reverence the majesty and the law of the celestial Godhead, do penance for their sins, confess their sins with sorrow and wash away their punishment with works of mercy, acquire grace and live rightly that they may live forever and happily. There are some who eat solid food and some are nour-ished on milk." Homil~t on the Fourteenth Centenar~l of the Death of St. Benedict, 39-1947-455,456. *70. Individual inclinations in praver. "Many of the faithful are unable to use the RomanMissal, even in their native language; nor are all capable of understanding correctly the liturgical rites and 131 POPE PIUS XII Review [or Religious formulas. So varied and diverse are me6's talents and temperaments that it is impossible for all to be moved and attracted to the same extent by community prayers, hymns, and liturgical services. More-over, the needs and inclinations of all are not the same nor are they always constant in the same individual." Encyclical Letter,. "Mediator Dei," 39-1947-561. "71. Multiplicity of prayers. "Above all, do not cease to incul-cate into the minds of all that the Christian life does not consist in the multiplicity and variety of prayers and exercises of piety but rather in their helpfulness towards spiritual progress of the faithful and constant growth of the entire ChurCh." Encyclical Letter, "Mediator Dei," 39-1947,587. *72. "But it should be noted that piety and genuine and ardent zeal for prayer are worth more than a mere multiplicity of prayers." Apostolic Exhortation, "Menti Nostrae," 42-1950-673. *73. Spiritual routine. "When young men perform the same exercises of piety according to a practically unchanging daily rou-tine, we can fear that their interior spirit may not be entirely in harmony with the external practices of religion. By force of habit this can happen to them all the more easily and even grow worse when they leave the seminary and are engrossed frequently in the necessary performance of their duties." Apostolic Exhortation, "Menti Nostrae," 42-1950-689. *74. Externalism. "It is not merely a question of recitation or of singing [the divine office] which, however perfect according to norms of music and the sacred rites, only reaches the ear, but it is especially a question of the ascent of the mind and heart to God so that, united with Christ, we may completely dedicate ourselves and all our actions to Him." Encyclical Letter, "Mediator Dei," 39- 1947-574. *75. Ritualism and Formalism. "But the primary element of divine worship must be interior. For we must always "live in Christ and give ourselves to Him completely . This recommendation the liturgy itself is careful to repeat as often as it prescribes an exterior act of worship. Thus we are urged, when there is question of fast-ing, for example, 'to give interior effect to our outward observance.' Otherwise religion clearly amounts to mere ritualism and formal-ism . It should be clear to all, then, that God cannot be honored worthily unless the mind and heart are elevated to Him in quest of 132 May, 1955 THE RELIGIOUS LIFE the perfect life." Encyclical Letter, "Mediator Dei,' 39-1947-531, 532. *76. "Besides, sin~e they [non-liturgical practices of piety] de-velop a deeper spiritual life in the faithful, they prepare the faith-ful to take part in sacred public functions with greater fruit and lessen the danger of liturgical prayers becoming an empty ritual-ism." Encyclical Letter, "Mediator Dei," 39-1947-584. *77. Humility. "Let the priest not trust in his own strength, find undue satisfaction in the contemplation of his talents, go search-ing for the esteem and praise of men or eagerly long for higher positions. Rather let him imitate Christ, who 'has not come to be served but to serve'; let him deny himself according to the law of the Gospel and be not inordinately attached to the things of earth, that he may the more easily and the more readily follow the Divine Master." Apostolic Exhortation, "Menti Nostrae," 42-1950-662. *78. Necessity, motive, and purpose of detachment. "He g~ce himself to God and to souls entirely, forever, with no hesitancy, with no reserve. Here is the secret of his heroic training for the supreme victory. To give himself completely, he renounced every-thing . It would be folly to renounce everything and oneself only to make a desert bf oneself. This is not what is done; no one has the right to do it. The motive of renunciation is a greater and holier love. Of this you must be deeply convinced, beloved sons of the Institute of th~ Foreign Missions: for love of God, for love of souls your fellow-member was detached from everything and from himself. This detachment and motive are evidently com-mon to all true apostles, but such love is of varying degree accord-ing to the temperament, charactgr, and natural and supernatural gifts of each." AItocution on the Beatification of Alberico Cris-citelli, 43-1951-165, 167. 79. Penance and mortification. "Not all, particularly in our day, understand as they should this kind of penitential life. Many to-day consider it either of little value or wearisome and neglect it entirely. However, we are not to forget that the lamentable fall ¯ of Adam has infected all of us with the hereditary blemish and inclines all of us readily to the allurements of sin. Penance, there-fore, is.absolutely necessary for us, according to the words: 'but except you do penance, you shall all likewise perish.' Nothing is of greater force in restraining the disordered passions of the soul and in subjecting the natural appetites to right reason. When we 133 POPE PIUS XII Revieto for Religious emerge victorious from this struggle, even though we must follow constantly in the footsteps of Jesus Christ and in a certain manner crucify our own flesh, we shall even in this life possess those heav-enly joys and delights that surpass the pleasures of earth as much as the soul does the body and heaven the earth. Holy penance and voluntary mortifications have their own heavenly consolation that the perishable and fleeting pleasures of life cannot give." Canoni-zation of Marianna of Jesus of Paredes, 42-1950-611, 612. *80. Correspondence with grace and self-effort. "Very truly the sacraments and the sacrifice of the altar, being Christ's own actions, must be held to be capable in themselves of conveying and dispensing grace from the divine Head to the members of the Mystical Body. But if they are to produce their proper effect, it is. absolutely neces-sary that our hearts be rigbly disposed to receive them . Em~ phatically, therefore, the work of redemption, which in itself is in-dependent of our will, requires a serious interior effort on our part if we are to achieve eternal salvation." Encgc[ica[ Letter, "Mediator Dei," 39-1947-533, 53.4. VI. MISCELLANEOUS "81. Government. Excessive bureaucraqt. "Finally We wish you to consider a thought that should guide and illumine all your pas-toral act, ion. Dedicate yourselves to it with all your souls. Give to all your activity the personal character of your spirit and your heart. We mean by this that you should be on your guard against an excessive bureaucracy in the care of souls. It is true that the proper management of the parochial office is strictly necessary. Your parishioners, however, must always and in all circumstances sense the kindness and paternal affection that beats in the heart of the pastor. Each and every one of your faithful should feel it, should be able to approach you easily and find in you the help and pro-tection that will fulfill the expectation of his trust." Allocution to Roman Pastors and Lenten Preachers, 43-1951-116. 82. Maternal government. "And now, dearest daughters, We pass on to give you two pressing exhortations. ;Fhe first is that of maternal affection in the direction of your sisters. It is undoubt-edly t~ue, as the psychologists maintain, that when in authority it is not as easy for woman as for man to find the exact balance between severity and kindness. This makes it all the more neces-sary to cultivate your maternal sentiments. Remember that for 134 Mar , 1955 THE RELIGIOUS LIFE your sisters as well as for yourselves the vows demand a great sac-rifice. They have renounced their families, the happiness of mar-riage and the intimacy of family life. This is a lofty sacrifice and of decisive importance for the apostolate of the Church, but it is none the less a sacrifice. Sisters of greatness of soul and delicacy of sentiment feel this detachment most keenly. The words of Christ, 'He that putteth his hand to the plough and looketh back is not fit for the kingdom of God,' find their full application here, also today, and without reservation. But the order should replace the family as much as it can, and on you, the mothers general, falls primarily the duty of breathing the warmth of family affection into the common life of the sisters. You must be motherly in your ex-ternal conduct, in your words arid writings, even when this de-mands self-mastery. Above all, be maternal in your inmost thoughts, your judgments and, as far as possible, in your feelings. Beg Mary, the Mother of Jesus and our own Mother, every day to teach you to be maternal." Address to the Congress of Mothers General, 44- 1952-825, 826. 83. Union. Federation of independent houses. "The prolonged actual living and experience of a confederation can convince you of the great wisdom of the Supreme Pontiff, Leo XIII, in procuring that the various Benedictine families, commonly called 'black Bene-dictines,' be united by the bonds of a brotherly confederation, with-out injury to their own institutes or norms. By the realization of this plan, the autonomy or faculty of living according to their own laws, the original norm that g'uided your monasteries, was in fact adapted to modern times in a salutary and provident manner, since it was demanded by the changed circumstances and the common good. In ancient and medieval times, when communications were more confined, the care of the faithful restricted to lesser necessities and the pursuit of. learning less extensive, such autonomy was more consistent. Aren't the very congregations of Benedictine religious that have arisen in the course of centuries an evident argument that a.fraternal union of effort is desired for the strengthening and per-fecting of discipline? Isn't this proved also by the wider associa-tions that were formed, for example, of Cluny and Bursfeld? If the individual monasteries had remained entirely alone, the Maurine Congregation of Benedictines could not have acquired such high renown for advancing sacred sciences, and elsewhere also the luster of your outstanding fictixiity and solid honor would have been dimmed. POPE PlUS XII Review for Religious In this age, the greater facility of communications, the will that is found everywhere more prone to united efforts, the desire for wider learning, for counsel, the instriaments of zeal necessary for priests and also for missionaries to fulfill the expectation placed in them require federations, demand union. If autonomy is unreason-ably retained, there will be found perhaps monasteries that are unequal to their purpose because, of the small number of religious, and the discipline of the observance of rule can also be weakened and even dangers can gradually creep in." Homily on the _Four-teenth Centenar( of the Death of St. Benedict, 39-1947-454, 455. 84. "For the circumstances of our age, with its much greater facility of communication, the increase in the sacred duties and the greater learning required of ministers of the Church seem to de-mand a union of members. Indeed, the J~enedictine Congregations erected in the past are a proof that the progress of the religious life demands that brothers unite their labors with their brothers." Approual and Confirmation of the Constitutions of the Confeder-ation of the Benedictine Monastic Congregations, 44-1952-521. 85. "In view of changed circumstances there are now many con-siderations which make it advisable and sometimes even necessary to confederate monasteries of nuns." Apostolic Constitution, "Sponsa Christi," 43-1951-13. 86. Centralization. "When the number of houses had so in-creased, the discerning superioress perceived clearly that it is most difficult to attain a unity of religious spirit and to preserve for any length of time union between different houses completely subject to the ordinaries of the" individual places. She realized that no small utility would accrue to the entire congregation i~ it were ruled by a common and uniform government, in which the strength of any institute and the life of religious discipline almost consist. For the attainment of this purpose nothing seemed to her more oppor-tune and suitable than to subject all the houses, whether already founded or to be founded in the future, to the house at Angers and to place a mother general over th~ entire congregation. This intention, although approved by the Bishop of Angers and other very prudent men, gave rise to a serious controversy . These dissensions could not but greatly sadden Mary of St. Euphrasia but were powerless to break her spirit or weaken her constancy. ¯ . . The Sacred Congregation of Bishops and Regulars, on Janu-ary 9, 1835 . approved the intention of the servant of God, 136 May, 1955 THE RELIGIOUS LIFE and Pope Gregory XVI, of happy memory, deignedto confirm this decree in all respects . This same Predecessor of Ours, after the matter bad again been subjected to a thorough examination . solemnly confirmed that decree." Decretal Letters of Canonization of St. Mary of St. Euphrasia, 33-194.1-141. 87. Nuns. Introduction of solemn vows. "All monasteries [of nuns] in which only simple vows are taken shall be entitled to ask for the introduction of solemn vows. In fact, unless there are serious reasons to the contrary, they shall take steps to return to the solemn vows." Apostolic Constitution, "Sponsa Christi," 43- 1951-16. 88. Necessity of at least minor papal cloister. "Papal cloister, either major or minor, is to be regarded as a necessary condition not only that solemn vows may be taken but also that those monas-teries in which simple vows are taken may hereafter be considered true monasteries of nuns according to can. 488, 7°." Apostolic Constitution, "Sponsa Christi," 43-1951 - 17. 89. "If however it appears with certainty that in any monas-tery [of nuns] even the minor cloister cannot regularly be ob-served, that monastery is to be converted to a house of either a congregation or a society." Apostolic Constitution, "Sponsa Christi," 43-1951-17. 90. Unity among rebgious institutes. "Harmony and generous agreement between the different religious families can be very favor-able in attaining such a desirable outcome. Mutual knowledge and encouragement, a holy rivalry cannot but be of mutual advantage. Splendid initiatives are already apparent in this respect; it remains only to perfect them." Apqstolic Exhortation to the International Convention of Teaching Sis'ters, 43-1951-743. 91. Praise of Religious Women. "How could the Church in later and more modern times have fully accomplished her mission with-out the work of the hundreds of thousands of religious women per-formed with such great zeal in education and charity? How could she accomplish it in our day? May your dedication, love and sac-rifices, so frequently hidden and unknown but suffered for love of ¯ Christ to benefit youth, produce in the future, as in the past, a hundred-fold of good! May the Lord reward you for it and pour out on you the abundance of His divine favors!" Apostolic Ex-hortation to the International Convention of Teaching Sisters, 43- 1951-739. 137 POPE PIUS 92. Clerical and religious states. "It is a distortion of the truth to say that the clerical state as such and as of divine law demands .either by its very nature or by some postulate of that nature that the evangelical counsels be observed by its members and that for this very reason it must or may be called a state of achieving evan-gelical perfection . So too, the fact that the priests of the Latin rite are bound to observe holy celibacy does not remove or lessen the distinction between the clerical and the religious states. More-over, a member of the regular clergy professes the state and condition of evangelical perfection not inasmuch as he is a cleric but inas-much as he is a religious." Address to the General Congress on the States of Perfection, 43-1951-29. 93. Exemption. "Again, the exemption of religious orders is not contrary to the principles of the constitution given to the Church by God nor does it in any way contradict the law that a priest owes obedience to his bishop. For, according to canon law, exempt religious are subject to the authority of the local bishop so far as the administration of the episcopal office and the well-regulate~d care of souls require. But even putting aside this consideration, in the discussions of the past few decades concerning the question of exemption perhaps too little attention has been paid to the fact that exempt religious, even by the prescriptions of canon law, are always and everywhere subject to the authority of the Roman Pontiff as their supreme superior and that they owe obedience to him precisely in virtue of their vow of obedience . It is there-fore clear that the primary law of God whereby the clergy and the laity are subject to the rule of the bishop is more than sufficiently observed as regards exempt religious, as it is no le~s clear that both branches of the clergy by reason of their parallel services conform to the will and precept of Christ." Address to the General Congress on the States of Perfection, 43-1951-28, 29. *94. Adequate support. "What is more, Venerable Brethren, We heartily commend the plans that you will discuss to insure that priests be provided not only with means to meet their daily needs but also with assurances of assistance for the future--as We are happy to see done in civil society--particularly for cases in Which they may fall ill, be 'afflicted with chronic ill health, or be weakened by old age. Thus you will relieve them of all anxiety for the future." Apostolic Ex-hor. tation,. "Menti Nostrae," 42-1950-698. .138 Through I-lis Blood Joseph H. Robling, C.PP.S. IF variety is the spice of life in general, it is also, in a sense, the spice of our supernatural life. If, for example, we have been considering certain revealed truths from the selfsame aspect so long that they scarcely impress us any more, it is helpful to con-sider them from some other aspect for a while. Many such variations are possible. Among them is the con-sideration of the truths of faith from the aspect of the precious blood of our Lord. This aspect was adopted very notably by St. Gaspar del Bufalo, who was canonized on June 12 of last year. He is called the Apostle of the Precious Blood, not only because he founded the Society of the Precious Blood in Rome in 1815, or because he fostered the pious union of the same name, but also be-cause in his very effective preaching of missions and retreats in the Papal States over a period of more than twenty years before his death in 1837 he frequently focused the attention of his hearers on the precious blood and from that vantage point drove home his message of instruction and exhortation. For this purpose during his sermons he sometimes held a large crucifix portraying the figure of the bleeding Savior and wore on his breast the now familiar mis-sion cross showing our Redeemer in the act of sacrificing even His own blood for sinners. Considering revealed truths from the aspect of the precious blood, we may profitably reflect, for instance, that no grace whatever comes to us independently of the sacrificial blood of Christ; for no grace is given to fallen mankind except that merited for us by the bloody sacrifice of our Redeemer on the cross. This same sacrifice was fore-shadowed and foretold in the Old Testament and is renewed and perpetuated by the holy Mass in the New. Furthermore, since we receive no grace independently of the precious blood, we also would have no means of grace without it--no Church, no priesthood, no sacraments, no sacramentals, no fruitful prayer. Again, since no one can be saved without grace, we can truthfully say that without the precious blood there would be no saint in heaven nor any soul in purgatory, nor even any just man on earth. Without it there would be neither justification nor salvation for any human .person. The blood of Jesus speaks better than the blood.of Abel (Heb. 12:24). It speaks of our Savior's lo,¢e and foFgivenes.s, of the ~13_9 JOSEPH H. ROHLING reality and extent of His sufferings, of the sacrifice He offered and the price He paid, of the tangible evidence and measure of His love for souls, of the mercy and pardon He holds out to repentant sin-ners, and His nourishing of souls in Holy Communion. It teaches the value of an immortal soul, for with St. Paul every human person can say, "He gave himself up for me" (Gal. 2:20), that is, He sacrificed even His own blood for me. And if our own soul., is so valuable in His sight, so is the soul of every other human being. Therefore, it teaches us zeal for souls and forms a powerful motive for missionary undertakings. It also teaches us the value of suffer-ing. If Jesus was willing to go to the extreme limit of shedding His own blood for me, how can I refuse Him the lesser sufferings and inconveniences and sacrifices He asks of me? Modern man tends to regard suffering as the greatest evil. The precious blood, on the other hand, teaches us that sin is a greater evil, because the Son of God was willing to undergo even a bloody death in order that sin might be taken away. The precious blood also supplies us with important motives for contrition and. amendment, for by sin we offend Him "who has loved us and washed us from our sins in hi~ own blood" (Apoc. 1:5). By committing mortal sin we lose all the sanctify-ing grace purchased for us at the price of our Redeemer's blood. Baptism an'd penance cleanse us from sin and punishment insofar as ¯ they infuse sanctifying grace and thus apply the merits of the pre-cious blood. The sacramental anointing with holy oil in confir-mation and 'extreme unction give supernatural strength to the soul because they apply these same merits in their specific way and for their specific purposes. Holy Orders and matrimony give the special graces for which they were.instituted and in'that way apply the merits of the blood of redemption to the recipients to enable them to fulfill the obligations of their respective states of life. The Holy Eucharist nourishes the recipient on the very blood itself that he may have everlasting life and be raised up on the last day (John 6:56). These examples will suffice to illustrate the manner in which 'we can regard the eternal truths from the aspect of the precious blood. For those who have not been using this approach, it may serve as a welcome variation in their prayer and meditation. St. Gaspar del Bufalo used this approach to great advantage. God blessed his efforts. By canonizing him the Church proposes him as a model for all of us. May we benefit by his example! 140 Community Lit:e Bernard I. Mullahy, C.S.C. yOU often hear it said that one of the principal reasons why there are not more vocations to the religious life is that young people find it hard to give up their social life, or that one of the things young women find most difficult in the convent is the lack of social life. Everyone understands What is meant by this, of course; yet, to suggest that in reality the religious life means a denial of social life is to misunderstand either the nature of the religious life or the true meaning of social life or, more fundamen-tally, the nature of the Christian life and its relation to the re-ligious life. The religious life is not something apart from thi~ Christian life, not even something added on to it; it is the Christian life lifted to its maximum dimensions. The religious life is simply a state which provides the best conditions for living the Christian life in the fullness of its perfection and beauty and splendor. Our religious vows are buta fulfillment of our baptismal vows; and perhaps the fact that so many of us have the habit of renewing our religious vows frequently while .hardly ever thinking of renewing our bap-tismal vows is an indication that we do not appreciate clearly and explicitly enough the vital relation between what happened to us on the day of our profession and what happened to us on the day of our baptism. Religious vocation is a flowering of our original vocation to be Christians, and we would surely have a deeper un-derstanding of the implications of our religious life if we had a fuller and clearer appreciation of the meaning of the Christian life. Now the Christian life is essentially a social life. It is a par-ticipation in the communal life of the Trinity and of the Mystical Body. And it goes without saying that this is the most intimate and intense social life conceivable. If then the whole meaning of religious vocation is to lift the Christian life to full perfection, it follows that one of the main purposes of the religiou's life, particu-larly in its cenobitic form, is to enal~le the Christian to live the sociai life of the Mystical Body and of God Himself in the fullness of its intensity and intimacy. This, it would seem, is the inner meaning of our community life. If we are not sufficiently conscious of this inner meaning, the reason may be that we are in the habit of viewing community life 141 BERNARD 1. MULLAHY Revietv {or Religious too much as a purely disciplinary thing, as something which rigor-ously rules out all singularity; every tendency to withdraw from community recreation and other community functions, every infrac-tion of the common life which might offend poverty in any way: we do not view it in the whole context of the Christian life, nor do we trace it back to its doctrinal and sacramental sources. There are three principal aspect~ of the Christian life: doctrine, worship, and moral action; or, in other words, the three C's: creed, cult, and code. In the spirituality characteristic of our times, there has been a tendency to stress code and moral action in isolation from creed and cult, from doctrine and worship. When this is done the Christian life and the religious life are viewed primarily in terms of asceticism, in terms of spiritual practices which are seen less as acts of divine worship than as exercises to perfect the soul. There is a concentration on sanctifying the will by a pattern of ascetical rules without at the same time illumining and enriching the mind with the doctrinal wellsprings of the Christian life. This tends to make the Christian life a kind of ethical and legalistic thing. Perhaps we have been in the habit of thinking of community life too much from this point of view. Perhaps we have seen it too much in terms of code, and not enough in terms of creed and cult; and it might be helpful for us to try to situate it in its proper context of doctrine and worship. To try to get at the doctrinal source of community life is to ask the question, Where is community life lived in its fullest and most perfect form? The answer, as we have already suggested, is: the Blessed Trinity. The life of the Trinity is essentially a com-munity life. G6d not only has community life, He is community life. He is a community of three Persons whose life,consists in an eternal, mutual outpouring of light and love, an outpouring that is so intense and so utterly altruistic that it constitutes the very per-sonality of the members of the community. Here is community life in its perfection: the personality of each of the members consists in being a living relation to the other members, nothing more, nothing less. Here is the common life in its fullest dimensions: none of the members possesses-anything absolute, anything at all, by Himself alone; everything absolute is shared in common. Here, as in a re-ligious community, the common life is founded on poverty, that mysterious, infinitely rich poverty of the three divine Persons which make it impossible to possess anything absolute as belonging to them personally. 142 Mag, 1955 COMMUNITY LIFE Our religious vows meant an entrance into a community life. So also did our baptismal vows. At baptism a real participation in the infinitely altruistic, communal life of the Trinity was put into our souls; and we were caught up in the intense and intimate social intercourse of the three divine Dersons. From then on we were des-tined to live the community life of the Mystical Body of Christ. From then on our vocation was to live not an isolated or insulated or introverted life, but a life of perfect altruism. This meant that our Christian personality would have to have something of the per-sonality of the three divine Persons; we wduld have to become a living relation to others: our joys, our riches, our prayer would have to be theirs; their poverty, their sorrows, their sufferings would have to be ours. The community life of the Mystical Body is a thing of vast proportions, for it embraces the whole Communion of Saints: the Church militant and suffering and triumphant. The proportions are so vast and the states so different that it is difficult for us while in this life to realize its far-reaching implications. Even if we limit our view to the Church militant, the distances are so great, there is such a lack of immediate contact, and there are so many differences of national traits and cultures and backgrounds, so many divisive forces, that it is not easy for us to have the sense of achieving close social intercourse. The parish is, of course, the natural communal unit in the Mystical Body; but here also differences of backgrounds and occupations and many other things seem to put a limit upon the intimacy and intensity of the social relations. The family, too, has its drawbacks, such as the immaturity of the children, for ex-ample. But in the religious community all these limitations dis-appear; and perhaps we may be permitted to think that one of the principal reasons why God brought religious communities into ex-istence was to provide a state which would have the ideal condi-tions for living the communal life of the Blessed Trinity and of the Mystical Body with the fullest intensity with which it is pos-sible for man to live it here on earth. In the religious state ~ire found the most perfect conditions for reflecting the social life of God. Here everyth{ng is possessed in common, and what belongs to one belongs to all. Here the barriers, the divisive influences, and the differences in interests and o.~cupations so often found in the world disappear. All are inspired by the same common purpose; all are governed by the same religious rule; all are formed in the same spiritual life and .participate in the same spir~ BERNARD I. MULLAHY itual exercises. Here we should expect to find the fullest achievement of social life, the highest form of altruism, the most perfect self-lessness, the least degree' of spiritual introversion. Nowhere should social consciousness be more delicate and strong, more sensitive and refined. Here, as in the community life which is God, there should be a constant outpouring of light and love upon others; and, like a reflection of the members of that divine community, each religious should' be a kind of living relation to all the others. In a word, since the Christian life is essentially a social life and since the purpose of the religious state is to bring the Christian life to its full devel-opment, we should expect to find nowhere more than in a religious community the perfect answer to the prayer of Christ after the Last Supper: "That they all may be one even as thou, Father, in me and Iin thee; that they also may be one in us. I in them and thou in me; that they may be perfected in unity." That this ideal is not always fully realized hardly needs to be mentioned. Everyone knows that, even in the extremely favor-able conditions for social life provided by the religious state, social .maladjustments and social tensions can and do exist, that not in-frequently individualism and spiritual introversion are developed to a high degree. There are undoubtedly a good many reasons for this. But may not one of the principal reasons be, as we have already sug-gested, the tendency to stress the code of the religious state in iso-lation from the whole context of the Christian life? When the religious life is viewed principally in terms of asceticism and dis-ciplinary regulations, when more insistence is placed upon the moral virtues than upon the theological virtues, when the various practices which go to make up the spiritual program are viewed more as exer-cises of the spiritual athlete than as acts 0f divine worship, and when there is more insistence upon self-perfection than upon charity as the goal of the spiritual life, it is hardly to be wondered at if some religious succumb to the temptation to turn in upon themselves and to become spiritually introverted. And, when the official prayer life of the Church suffers at the hands of spiritual individualism and private devotions, when the liturgical life is not lived fully by the religious, and when his community life does not find i~s full and natural expression in the communal worship of the Mystical Body, it seems inevitable that the social implications of this community life will not be brought to fulfillment. Since the Christian life is essentially a social life, it is only natural that the official prayer lif~ of the Christian, the liturgy, 144 May, 1955 COMMUNITY LIFE should be essentially a social worship. And, if the purpose of the religious life is to. bring the Christian life to its ~perfection, are we not entitled to expect that, while each religious society will natur-ally want to insist on its own proper spirituality and spirit, the official social worship of the Church will also be brought to ful-fillment in it? May we not be permitted to suspect that one of the purposes God had in mind in raising up religious communities was to bring about the best conditions for communal worship? It seems incongruous and inconsistent to insist on community life without insisting on communal worship. Yet there are religious congregations which make much of community life in all its minute disciplinary details all the way. along the line (and not infrequently in an all too univocal way which confuses unity and uniformity) until it is a question of worship, and then individualism and sub-jectivism take over, at least to a large extent. We even find paradoxical situations in which private prayer is made public and public prayer private. Nothing could be more. personal and intimate than mental prayer. Yet it is not uncommon to find it turned into a kind of public exercise, with the same subject for meditation read out for the entire community the evening before, and all the same points read out in public during the meditation period the next morning. On the other hand, the greatest public act of worship, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, is often treated like a private devotion. It seems, therefore, that the community life of religious needs a rich doctrinal source in the dogma of the Church and a rich sacra-mental source in the liturgy of the Church. And, of course, the sun and center of the whole sacramental background of corhmunity life is the Eucharist. The Blessed Sacrament is the basic foundation for the common life because, as St. Thomas Aquinas points out, it contains substantially the common good of the whole Church. The community, life of a religious congregation will depend in lar, ge measure upon the way in which the Mass is understood and loved by the religious and upon the way it is participated in by the com-munity. In a very particular way, community life will depend upon the attitude of the religious towards Communion. In modern times there has been a very paradoxical attitude among Catholics. Some, re-alizing that Communion is not necessary to fulfill the obligation of hearing Mass on Sunday have come to look upon it as a purely external addition to the Mass. Others have made it the focal point 145 BERNARD I. MULLAHY Re~ieu] ~:or Religious of the whole Mass, as though the Mass were a Communion service rather than a Sacrifice. This latter attitude is the more common among religious. Comr~union viewed as an intimate personal union between the individual soul and Christ is made the center of at-tention; and, with the notion ~of sacrifice pushed far into the back-ground, the part of the Mass which precedes Communion is spent in a personal preparation for the reception of Christ; and the part afterwards, in a personal thanksgiving. It has not been unknown for religious communities to receive Communion regularly every morning before Mass so that the religious might spend the entire Mass in making a private act of thanksgiving. Fortunately, this sort of thing is becoming more and more rare. Communion can play its proper role in our community life only when it is viewed in its proper relation to the whole Mass, and the Mass in turn is viewed in its proper relation to the whole liturgical life of the Church. Then Communion xvill be seen as a social, sacrificial banquet in which the members of the Mystical Body corporately share in the Sacrifice and by feeding upon the Victim make of themselves one corporate sacrifice with Him. As Thomas Aquinas and other theologians have insisted, Com-munion does not mean merely a personal, private union between the individual soul and Christ: it also means a union of the mem-bers of the Mystical Body. Its proper effect is not merely something personal and individual, but something social and communal. Its purpose is not simply to give spiritual nourishment to tl~e individual soul, but to strengthen and intensify and revivify the manifold social bonds by which the members of the Mystical Body are made .one in Christ. Communion is directly related to the Christian community as a community. And for the religious, Communion is directly related to living the community life. If, as day follows day, the Communion of the religious is not gradually bringing about greater and more .sensitive social consciousness, a fuller and more perfect participation in community life, a stronger and more delicate exercise of fraternal charity, a more mature forbearance of the faults and failings of others, a greater capacity to cope with the misunder-standings and tensions which tend to creep into even the best com-munities, and a more generous acceptance of the many trying crosses which the common life always involves, something is wrong. Dhily Communion sometimes goes on for years withotit mu~b evidence of that growth in sanctity which would normally be ex-pected from° such frequent and intimate:contact with the source 146 ,~la~, 1955 COMMUNITY LIFE of all sanctity. As we have suggested elsewhere,1 one of the chief reasons for this phenomenon might very well be a lack of proper appreciation of the direct and essential relation between Com-munion and community. Because of this relation, any failure to live community life in its fullness will be an obstacle" to the full effects of Communion in our lives. It is not uncommon to find members of communities who by certain standards are considered excellent religious, and yet who seem never to have realized the social implications of their religious vocation. They are faithful to their rule, but in a very legalistic way. They are meticulous about every disciplinary detail; they are generous and sometimes even heroic in the practice of asceticism; and they are obedient enough when any of the obligations of com-munity life are pointed out to them; yet, intent upon their own spiritual life, the goal of which they conceive to be their own personal perfection rather than charity, they live a very individu~l-istic and insulated life. They never seem to enter fully into com-munity life nor to have any spontaneous contribution to make to it. They are socially cold and unimaginative. Just as demanding With others as they are with themselves, they find it difficult to under-stand and to sympathize with certain weaknesses of their fellow religious. Their fraternal charity is a kind of practised, artificial thing, lacking in warmth and mellowness. They are without social sensitivity and find it hard to enter into the feelings of others, to anticipate their wants. They are not thoughtful: and, when others are in need of help or there is some kind of community project to be taken in hand, they are usually busy with other things. All this may very well be due, at least in large measure, to a failure to understand and appreciate the doctrinal and liturgical background of community life in general, and to a wrong attitude towards Holy Communion in particular. These religious have never been made to understand clearly the social implications of Communion and have habitually viewed it only as a personal experience, an exquisitely close and intimate contact between Christ and their soul. Communion is thus but a part of their whole spirit-ually introverted program. It was the social virtue of fraternal charity that Christ gave as the distinguishing mark of the Christian. And, if the purpose of the. religious life is to bring the Christian to his full stature, in plenitudinern Christi, this social virtue should surely shine forth 1 Cf. "The Common Good," Worship, XXVII, No. 7, 345. 147 BERNARD I. MULLAHY Review ~o~ Religious in religious in all its splendor. This is the whole meaning and pur-pose of their community life. .In a sense, community life makes fraternal charity more difficult.because close living together seems to accentuate the many faults and failings of human nature which are often so hard to put up with; but at the same time it provides the most perfect conditions for living fraternal charity in its fullest dimensions. Religious are often anxious, especially at the time of retreats, to find some norm whereby they may assess their spiritual growth. The measurement of spiritual progress is a very complex and an easily deceptive thing, and it is difficult to find a reliable norm to go by. But insofar as there is any reliable standard at all, it is surely the social virtue of fraternal charity. "By this will all men know that you are my disciples." And it is principally in terms of their social life that religious will be judged at the end. "In the eventide of life," says 3ohn of the Cross, ."they will examine thee in love"; and he is merely paraphrasing Christ's own description of the last judgment in which everything is made to depend upon social life: "I was hungry and you gave me to eat." Rooting the idea of community in its proper doctrinal and liturgical sources will help to avoid some of the misconceptions and excesses which not infrequently accompany the common life. One of the most ordinary of these is the confusion between unity and uniformity. The common life is viewed all too often in a perfectly univocal way and any lack of uniformity even in the smallest de-tails is considered a breach of unit~. There results a kind of lock-step existence; short shrift is made of personal initiative and re-sourcefulness, "and the religious "with ideas" becomes suspect. Even in minutiae the religio~s are expected to do only what their elders have done and are doing, and woe to the one who suggests that there might be a better way. Regulations multiply and accumulate in an attempt to organize the life of the religious down to the slight-est detail. Customs which .once made sense because of special cir-cumstances of time or place but which have long since lost their significance and propriety are held 'as sacred and inviolable. The accumulated weight of regulations and customs crushes and stifles' "the liberty of the children of God" which the religious came to the community to find. Community life becomes top-heavy: all initiative comes from the top; local superiors must get directives from higher superiors even in relatively trivial matters; and within the local house all new ideas, if they are to have any value, must orig- 148 Magl, 1955 COMMUNITY LIFE inate with the superior. Such a program is well calculated to pro-duce a standard product, a religious whose.chief characteristics are neutrality, passivity, and automatism. This description is undoubtedly sbmething of a caricature, but does it not point up a real problem? And is not the only adequate solution that broad and, beautiful vision of the corporateness of. the Mystical Body and of the liturgical life of the Church? Here is the closest and most intimate unity, but at the .same time the greatest variety and flexibility. Here is a structure that is not me-chanical and rigid, but organic and supple. Another difficulty in connection with community life is that it often tends to cut the religious off from participation in a broader communal life and thus, paradoxically, to create a kind of com-munity individualism. To what extent non-cloistered religious can and sbould participate in'the communal Christian life of the parish in which they are stationed is a. question that is too complex and too delicate to be treated here; but it is a question which sbotild be faced. For the most part, the community life of the religious cuts them off and isolates them from corporate parochial life, and perhaps it would not be im13ossible.to find ways and means of enabling them .to partidpate, to some extent at least, in the com-munal worship of the parish, which is, after all, the natural social unit of the Mystical Body. The paradox of community" individualism is also found fre-quently in an exaggerated esprit de corps which develops a kind of sectarian spirit among religious. It is perfectly in order for a re-ligious to be proud of the traditions and the accomplishments of his own congregation and to prefer its characteristic life and spirit to that of any other community. All that is part and parcel of his vocation to that particular sodiety. And there is such a thing as a holy rivalry between communities. But it is also possible for a com-munity spirit to become excessive, to canonize too easily the tra-ditions and methods proper to the congregation, to develop a false pride which in many subtle and implicit ways looks down upon other communities and which closeq the congregation in upon itself and makes it impervious to good influences which might come to it from others. Here, as elsewhere the only remedy is that total view of the communal life of the Church found in its doctrine and its .liturgy. St. Augustine's dream of the reign of Christ's love upon earth which prompted him to say, "And there will be one Christ loving 149 c. A HERBST Review For Religious Himself," should find its fullest realization in the community life of religious. Christ is living in each religious; and, when the com-munity is bound together in fraternal charity, there is but one Christ loving Himself. No one can sing the hymn "Ubf Caritas'" with greater truth and meaning than the religious. "Congregat2it nos in unum Christi amor.--It is the love oL-Christ that has brought us together and made us one." The. Third Mode of blumili :y C. A. Herbst, S.3. EACH master of the spiritual life has certain ideals whic.h are distinctive and which he considers of the utmost importance ~n his plan for achievirig perfection. For St. Ignatius of Loyola, the Third Mode of Humility is one of these. He thus pre-sents it in the Spiritual Exercises: "The third is most perfect hu-mility; namely, when--including the first and second, and the praise and glory of the Divine Majesty being equal--in order to imitate and be more actually like Christ our Lord, I want and choose poverty with Christ poor rather than riches, opprobrium with Christ replete with it rather than honors; and to desire to be rated, as worthless and a fool for Christ, Who first was held as such, rather than wise or prudent in this world." In order right in the beginning to get a better understanding of this, it will be well to present a fuller expression he gives in another place. "They must diligently observe, esteeming it of great import-ance and of the highest moment in the sight of our Creator and Lord, how much it helps and contributes to progress in spiritual life, to abhor wholly and not in part what the world loves and embraces, and to accept and desire with their whole strength what-soever Christ our Lord loved and embraced. For as worldly men, who follow the things of the world, love and with great diligence seek honors, reputation and the credit of a great name upon earth, as the world teaches them, so those who are advancing in spirit and seriously follo'w 'Christ our Lord, love and earnestly desire things which are altogether the contrary; that is, to be clothed with the same garment and with the livery of their Lord for His love and reverence: insomuch that if it could be without offence of the 150 Ma~l, 1955 THE THIRD MODE OF HUMILITY divine Majesty and without sin on the part of their neighbor, they would wish to suffer reproaches, slanders and injuries, and to be treated and accounted as fools (without at the same time giving any occasion for it), because they desire to imitate and resemble in some sort their Creator and Lord Jesus Christ, and to be clothed with His garments and livery; since He clothed Himself with the same for our greater spiritual good, and gave us an example, that in all things, as far as by the assistance of God's grace we can, we may seek to imitate and follow Him, seeing He is the true way that leads men to life." (Examen Generale, IV, 4.) We should know what the other two modes .of humility are in order to understand the third. I have the first when I so subject myself to God that I am ready to give up everything, even life it-self, rather than commit a mortal sin. I have the second when I so subject myself to God that I am indifferent to created things and am ready to give up everything, even life itself, rather than commit a venial sin. Subjection to God is the note common to the three; but the third is so different from the other two that there is a dis-tinction not of degree only, but of kind. The idea behind the third mode of humility is perfect imitation of Christ "Who, having joy set before him, endured the cross, de-spising the shame" (Heb. 12:2). We want to imitate Christ per-fectly. We want what He had, even, especially, the hard things. The early Christians ambitioned, and often attained, actual perse- ¯ cution and death. But, when peace came to the Church in the Ro-man Empire after 312 A. D., they could no longer look forvOard to martyrdom. What were the.y now to ambition as the apex of their spiritual ascent? Thence stemmed the doctrine of bloodless martyrdom in asceticism and the religious life. From this stream of spiritual development, the author of the Spiritual Exercises drew his ideal of self-renouncement for Christ. The driving force in fervent souls is to "get to Christ." We have a splendid example of this in St. Ignatius, martyr and apos-tolic father. His motto was: "My Love is crucified." When on his way to martyrdom he wrote: "I am now beginning to be a disciple; may nothing visible or invisible prevent me from reaching Jesus Christ. Fire and cross and battling with wild beasts, their clawing and tearing, the breaking of bones and mangling of mem-bers, the g~ind!ng of my whole body, the wicked torments of the devil--let 'them all assail me, so long as I get to Jesus Christ." (Ad Romanos~ 5; Father Walsh's translation.) "Ignatius of Loy- 151 C.A HERBST Review for Religious ola sensed, so to speak, his spiritual affinity with this man of the early Church when, in honor of this Saint, he changed his name from Inigo to Ignatius and in one of his letters styled him 'that glorious Saint for whom I have in Our Lord, or wish to have, a very special reverential devotion.' " (Rahner, The Spirituality of St. Ignatius Loyola, 59-60.) We might be inclined to think the third mode of humility as beyond our reach, as heroic. Is it heroic? Perhaps. Surely not in the sense explained by Pope Benedict XIV in his great work on the canonization of saints. But it may be heroic in a general and popularly accepted sense of the word. One who gives his life in a cause is commonly considered to be h~roic. A soldier must be ready tO die for his country. This is expected of every soldier. Yet, if he actually die, he is considered a hero. Sainted martyrs gave their lives rather than offer incense to false gods. In that they did only what they were obliged to do; yet they are considered God's heroes, heroic. At confirmation the bishop gives every Chris-tian a slight blow on the cheek to remind him that he must be ready to suffer anything, even death, for the sake of Christ. This sounds as though it is asking for heroism which, however, is pre-sumably within the reach of all. In the same way the heroism of the third mode of humility might reasonably be expected of those who are professionally travelling the high road of perfection. It almost looks as though a religious in making his profession has deliberately chosen as his way of life the third mode of humility. When he says, "I vow poverty," he says, "I want and choose pov-erty with Christ poor rather than riches." By taking a vow of chastity, he may be calling upon himself the disapproval of "worldly men, who follow the things of the world." By the vow of obedi-enc~ be is laying aside his own will by vcbicb be might push on to wealth, honor, and power. By pronouncing his vows, a re-ligious. has professionally taken on that foolishness of God which is wiser than men and that weakness of God which is stronger than men (I Cot. 1:25). He has/aid himself open "to be rated as worth-less and a fool for Christ, Who first was held as such, rather than wise or prudent in this world." ~The third mode of humility is a habit of mind, an habitual disposition of heart. A" striking act of self-abnegation now and then or even a spurt of fervor occasionally is not sufficient. It must become a way of life with us, a place in which we live. Father Considine puts it well in "A Question as to Ideals" when he says: 152 Mav, 1955 THE THIRD MODE OF HUMILITY "Within this region the Saints . . . have occupied sumptuous man-sions, in central and commanding positions, whereas the modest dwelling of any one of us may be no better than a poor cottage on the outskirts. But, poor as this dwelling may be, it must be within the border." (Woodstock Letters, 1908, 363.) Even of our miserable little hut on this high plateau we might say: "Better is one day in thy courts above thousands. I have chosen to be an abject in the house of my God, rather than to dwell in the taber-nacles of sinners" (Ps. 83:11). How I can come to live there is what should be of great con-cern to me. There is close approach to, or passive practice of, the third mode, if we make "acts of sincere th.ankfulness, as often as any little share of the cross falls to our portion. Even supposing that, on one occasion.or another, we have brought some humiliation on ourselves by our own imprudence, we may, while most heartily regretting the fault or error of judgment, no less heartily thank God that we have at least some opportunity of making up for the fault or error, through the patient endurance of discomfort or even (it may be) the contempt which it has brought on us." (Woodstock Letters, 1908, 372.) We need not search far to find ample matter for living this life with Christ, "despising the shame." "The life of a religious is full of occasions in which he is blamed, or forgotten, or scorned, or ridiculed, or humiliated . We must expect little humiliations that fall upon us at any time and in any place--in the form of failure, lack of consideration, disapproval and small acts of ingrati-tude; we must suffer the offense of angry words, words that hurt, words of ridicule; we must bear outright and thinly veiled refusals; our cross may consist in lack of approval, lack of sympathy, scorn or contempt expressed by a look, a gesture, an attitude, or in being left alone while another is made much of; we may be faced with open or hidden criticism which we surmise or discover by accident ¯ . . our meager talent, our character, our health, our appearance." (Vermeerscb, Miles Christi Jesu, 151, 154.) Thomas ~ Kempis says: "What pleaseth others shall prosper, what is pleasing to thee shall not succeed. What others say shall be harkened to; what thou sayest shall be reckoned as nought. Others shall ask and shall re-ceive; thou shalt ask, and not obtain, Others shall be great in the esteem of men; about thee nothing shall be said. To others this or that shall be committed, but thou shalt be accounted as of no use." (Imitation, III, 49, 4-5.) 153 C. A HERBST Reuiev3 for Religious I offer myself to our Lord for all these things. This m~y be .a general offering of futurables but they may be actuated at any mo-ment. Perhaps I am living with some of them right now. At any rate this offering shows a habitual disposition consonant with the third mode of humility, and there lies hidden in it not a little faith and love. When I am passed over or slighted or snubbed, I hope I may be able to bear it at least patiently. I make a great advance when I come to accept such things willingly and even with love for the love of Him who "loved me and delivered himself for me." Wl'ien I come to accept them with joy and even enthusiasm, glad that the Father has placed me with His Son, I 'have travelled far. This offering of myself for humbling things and the patient, loving, joyous acceptance of them should lead me to have the wish to have the desire for humiliations. "For though I burn not with so great desire as Thy specially devout servants, yet, by Why grace, I have a desire of this same greatly inflamed desire, praying and wishing that I may be made partaker with all such fervent lovers, and be numbered in their holy company." (Imitation, IV, 14, 3.) From the desire of the desire we ought, by God's grace, soon to pass on to "desire to be made little of, neglected, passed over, have little influence, even be regarded as suspect, be criticised, reproved, ridi-culed. We ought to have no desire for first place, for the higher offices . . . association with the more wealthy, the more aristocratic, or the leading men, no desire for the larger cities." (Coemans-Germ-ing, Commentartj, n. 251.) This, in a small way, is "to desire to be rated as worthless and a fool for Christ, Who first was held as such, rather than wise or prudent in this world." No motive but love is strong enough to carry one through to the attainment of so high an ideal. Without love even martyrdom of blood is to no purpose. "And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profit~th me nothing" (I Cor. 13:3). It is the same with bloodless martyrdom. And it must be a love of imitation and companionship. "With Me," Christ the King invites. "With Christ I am nailed to the Cross" (Gal. 2:19). "In what place soever thou shalt be, my lord, O king, either in death, or in life, there will thy servant be" (II Kings 15:21). Love always finds a way. I surpass desire when I am on the watch for opportunities and actually seek out occasions for practicing the third mode of hu-mility. There are always the humbler tasks to which no one pays 154 Ma~!, 1955 MARY AND JOSEPH FIND ,JESUS' any attention and to which are attached no praise or glory. Others will gladly let me have them. I can deliberately pass by positi6ns of influence and authority. I can accuse myself of my faults in a loud and clear voice. It may be more humbling dutifully to tell another his faults than to be told my own. The dependence ~ind humility implied in ~sking a permission, especially when I may be refused, is precious. It is sometimes all right deliberately to fail to show off my superior knowledge or ability. Letting others have the nicer place or things and allowing them to pass ahead of me is Christlike, too. In confession I can mention circumstances and motives connected with my faults that will be very humiliating. And so on. Love will find many other ways. This is the positive, aggressive, strong, earnest, eager, enthusiastic way "to be clothed with His garments and livery." Mary and ,Joseph Find ,Jesus Paul Dent, S.d. EVEN Mary and Joseph cannot find You when You choose to be hidden from them. But You mercifully choose to let them find You, too, lest I despair of ever seeing You face to face, 0 Jesus. Mary leaves Joseph for the women's court, thinking prayerfully, "Quam dilecta tabernacula tua, Domine. Concupiscit et del~cit anima roea in atriis tuis.'" A mother passes by, followed by her boy. How like Jesus he is! Mary looks around at her side to compare the two, and He is not there! Disappointed, she thinks immediately, "He must have stayed with Joseph this time. How fortunate Joseph is to have Jesus with him! How unworthy I am to have Jesus with me! With all my heart I want Jesus with me, but still I do not want Joseph to be without Him. I shall be patient and spend the day in loving hope of seeing Jesus at the end." Thus the day passes in loving hope, and it ends in disappointment. For Jesus is not with Joseph either, and now they both bare lost Him--neither of whom had ever lost Him before! But Mary loses no time in self-pity, much less in blaming Joseph. For quite simply Joseph would not be careless about Jesus. Mary realizes at once she is confronted with a deliberate act of God, a 155 PAUL DENT mystery she does not now understand but which God will make dear to her when He wills. Meanwhile they must go immediately to look for Jesus, calmly, hopefully, not frantically. They must go prayerfully, too. God guide their footsteps. Then there come three days, and perhaps nights, too, of looking for Jesus; and it is a search that is con[ident. For He knows of it and will reveal Himself to them when God wills. Mary and Joseph seek Jesus humbl: , too, realizing they are not worthy to find Him, much less to keep Him with them in their own home. They are persevering also in their search, for Jesus, for duty and love drive them on continuously. Duty obliges the world's best parents to give the world's best care to the world's best Child. The love driv-ing them on is that of creation's greatest lover--Mary Immaculate! --and that of her all but equal--glorious St. Joseph !--for Jesus Christ Himself, beloved Son of God. "'Nec lingua valet dicere, nec littera exprimere, expertus potest credere quid sit desum diligere." Or, as convert Father Caswall worded it, "Nor tongue nor pen can show the love of Jesus. What it is, none but His loved ones know." So Mary and Joseph, who have experienced more than others what it is to love Jesus, seek Him lovingly, so lovingly that all they think, choose, say, do, or suffer is just one thing--seeking Jesus lost. If all I think, choose, say, do, or suffer is just one thing, the one thing necessary--a seeking of Jesus lost or of Jesus never even heard of amid the dust and turmoil of the incalculable billions of thoughts, choices, words, actions, and sufferings of the innumerable billions of human beings of the past, present, and future--then truly I am in the company of Mary and Joseph; truly we three are seeking Jesus, and truly not only we three, but very many others whom we help, will find Jesus foreveL Then we shall all sing forever with new understanding and inexpressible joy "'quid sit desum diligece--what it be to love Jesus!" And those other words of this great and tender hymn of the Ages of Faith, this "'desu Dulcis Memoria," will resound forever as our arisen and immortal voices sing sweeter than earth's loveliest ~ing-ing, "Quocumque loco fuero JESUM MECUM DESIDERO! Quam laetus cure int;enero! QUAM FELIX CUM TENUERO~.--In whatsoever place I be, Jesus, I want You there with me. When You I find, how happy I! How blessed when I have You by!" 156 THE APOSTOLATE OF CHASTITY. By Ferdinand Valentine, .O.P. P ). 245. The Newman Press,.Westm~nster, Maryland, 1954. $3.25. ; The vow of chastity is a subject which comes in for much dis-cussion in modern ascetical literature. This interest may be con-trasted with an attitude which prevailed in days gone by that the vow of chastity needed no explanation. The need for an explana-tion of the vow of chastity may differ from age to age and place to place; but there is no doubt, I believe, that religious may profit from a thorough and competent treatment of chastity such as Father Valentine offers. The A)ostolat'e of Chastit~l is both broader and narrower in scope than its ~itle would indicate. It is narrower in that it treats only of the apostolate of religious women. It is broader in its con-cern with other aspects of this vocation. The first chapter, for in-stance, deals with the problem of prcJmoting vocations. Superiors will find some very prudent suggestions concerning the pr.oper at-titude to be taken .toward vocations. The second chapter then deals with some problems of psychological fitness. The rest of the first section goes on to discuss the problerfi of religious adaptation tO modern times. The author dbes not take .up the problem 'of chastity proper until the beginning of the second s.ection of the book. He intro-duces this section with a catechetical treatment of the vow and" virtue of chastity,; and then goes on to what appear~ .tO be the heart of the book--a treatment of the apostolic aspqct. "9.f .chastity. The theme of this section ,would seem to be' that 't.,h~ ~orfian will find in virginal chastity "not an asceticism which rFstrains and represses her natural gifts as woman and mother, but rat~er'.their spiritual elevation and fulfillment . " This is certainly a healthy and a positiye attitu,d,e toward chas-tity, and one which it would be well for religious .women to .under-stand clearly. But there is a tendency among.modi~rn authors to justify virginity by try!.ng to make it look as much like ma~rri.age as possible. There is certainly room for analogy" between perpetual chastity and marital chastity, but there is also a danger to be re.ck-oned with. perpetual chastity, from whatever angle you .yiew it, 157 BOOK REVIEWS Review for Religious involves the renunciation of marriage and haarital privileges. There is a certain negative.aspect of religious chastity, then, which cannot be overlooked, and which it would be foolhardy to ignore. There are forces for which the religious life offers no outlet whether direct or by ways of so-called sublimation. Herein lies the sacrifice of the religious. So, while one must condemn the morbid fear of sex and sin which cripples the apostolate of some religious, one must leave room for a healthy fear. This fear will be based on a clear under-standing of the religious renunciation and the difficulty of controll-ing the forces thus held in check. Such fear, far from doing damage, will protect religious chastity and set a safe limit to the love that may be practised in religion. I believe that the author was aware of all this, but it may be that he thought it beyond the scope of his work to stress it. But religious women will find the book inspiring and stimulating, though at times difficult .reading.-~JOHN R.CONNERY, S.J. FATIMA IN THE LIGHT OF HISTORY. By Costa Brochado. Translated and edited by George Boehrer. Pp. 231. The Bruce Publishing Com-pany, Milwaukee, 1954. $4.50. With rare common sense the author of this latest book on the apparitions of Our Lady at Fatima has limited himself to historical analysis, and left supernatural elements to the competence of trained theologians. The translation is lucid and forceful and makes intensely interesting the somewhat tedious chronicle of Portugese history. With inspiring results, the unconquerable Catholic heritage of the country is traced th, rough centuries of political and religious up-heaval. The tragic, yet factual and objective, narration of the havoc initiated by the Marquis of Pombal, and forwarded by the anti-religious iddals of Masonry, reveals a tremendous need for the spir-itual revitalization of Portugal which providentially succeeded the apparitions of Our Lady of the Rosary. Pombal, Mr. Brochado as-serts, was ultimately responsible for shatteiing the religious unity of the country. By such planned offensives as the banishment of the Sbciety of Jesus, severance of relations with the Holy Se~, and open-ing the country to the destructive forces of Protestantism and Latin Masonry, Pombal made it possible for the Triangle to supplant the Cross in Portugal. Assaults on Churches, exile of prelates, state control of religion, secularization of schools, profanations, robber-ies, arson, murder--this is the pitiful picture of the country as it agonized and labored to preserve its Faith against the .enemies of 158 Mag, 1955 BOOK REVIEWS God and all things Catholic. And yet, the influence of the Blessed Virgin was never absent. Two centuries before the definition of the dogma, Portugal had consecrated herself to the Immaculate Conception and had taken a solemn oath to defend and propagate belief in Mary's perpetual sinlessness. Furthermore, the rosary had been for centuries the lead-ing Marian devotion of the portugese people, culminating in a ver-itable "crusade of the Rosary". in the midst of,frightful persecutions immediately preceding the apparitions of 1917. Portugal had not abandoned her patroness in the hour of trial, and our Lady did not forget her heroic fidelity. Since the events of Fatima, the Church's enemies have suffered great defeats in Portugal. The rapid revival of faith and hope in the hearts of the Portugese people is perhaps the surest sign that the Virgin has again triumphed by crushing the head of the serpent. .The reader of this book may feel, however, that Mr. Brochado has taken too local a view of the significance of Fatima. Despite his purpose, as stated in tbe translator's preface, " to "place those events [the apparitions] in their historical setting and to consider their efl:ects on subsequent bistor~l,'" (italics mine) Mr. Brochado barely hints at any world implications. He deliberately avoids all reference to subsequent developments, such as the state-ments of Lucia which involve our Lady's desire for devotion to her Immaculate Heart, the First Saturdays, the conversion of Rus-sia, or the vision of hell with its threat to sinners the world over. Are these developments sufficiently historical to merit mention? The question is admittedly disputed. But inthis reviewer's opinion, the Holy Father's consecration of the world to the Immaculate Heart in 1942 and of Russia in 1952 has far-reaching repercussions, at least implicitly connected with the events of Fatima, which should not be ignored. It is noteworthy that Manoel Cardozo, in his pref-ace to Mr. Brochado's book, also seems to have sensed this lack of perspective: "Fortunately for us, Our Lady did not appear for the exclusive benefit of the Portugese (though they were favored above all others)."--VINCENT J. FORDE, S.J. SO SHORT A DAY. By Sisfer M. Eulalia Teresa, S.N.J.M. Pp. 281. Mc- Mullen Books, Inc., New York, 1954. $3.00. This book is the story of Mother Marie-Rose, the foundress of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary. Into the texture of this biography is woven the. inseparable 159 BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS Reuiew for Religious story of the beginnings of the congregation of Mother Marie-Rose and-i~s first.establishment at Longueuil, Quebec. It has been said that the most objective history, and consequently the best, is written by an author who is indifferent to his subject. Obviously, Sister M. Eulalia Teresa is not indifferent to the.subject of her book. (we would be disappointed if she were) ; and it is al-most as obvious that in places she lets her heart supply for his-" torical documentation. This, it seems, is the chief temptation of hagiographers. It must be said, however, that an indifferent author could not have caught the spirit of this foundress, could not have made it come alive as the author does. If the picture is overpainted in places, it is withal a vivid and inspiring picture. If ~he book is slow to take the reader's interest, it could well be due to the character portrayal and absence of conflict in the firs~ sections. The characters, are almost all painted in the same bright superlatives, and the st6ry lags for want of that conflict, internal or external, from which great souls emerge. Patience on the reader's part in waiting for character portrayal of deeper colors and better perspective is well rewarded. There is a new and welcome candor in the descriptions of the young pioneer sisters whom God called to the congregation of Mother Marie-Ros~ in its early days. Neither can it be said that the second part of the book is v~ithout conflict and the impact of drama:" The trials and persecutions to which the nascent coflgregation was subjected and the vibrant faith by which they were met are the heart of a ver~ real drama. So Short a Day makes this drama, enacted over a hundred years. ago, come back to life. The accomplishment of making history live again, of capturirig the pioneer spirit of this congregation and its saintly foundress is to be highly praised. Mother Marie-Rose died on her thirty-eighth, birthday, only six years after her congregation had been born. To:day her spirit. lives on in the 3,725 professed religious of her congregation and the 252 schools which her sisters direct. So short~ a day, so great a legacy.--JOHN POWELL, S.J. BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS BEAUCHESNE ET SES FILS, 117 Rue de Rennes, Paris. Initiation a. l'Oraison. Par Piere Brunet. His long experience BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS as ' professor at ,the seminary at Nancy has convince~l the author that most books on prayer do not meet the particular .problems,of seminarians fihd the secular clergy since they are written by and for religious. This book embodies his efforts to remedy that situation. Secular priests should find the book particularly helpful since it is written by one who knows their needs and problems. Pp. 326. THE BRUCE PUBLISHING COMPANY, Milwaukee 1, Wisconsin. The Catholic Church and You. By William 3. Grace, S.d. 7Fhe Inquiry Forum at the 3esuit Church in Milwauk'ee, begun in 1945, has attained something of an international reputation for the large mea

Issue 14.5 of the Review for Religious, 1955. ; Reviewfor Religious SEPTEMBER 15, 1955. Caussade on External Grace . John A. Hardon Effective Governing . Claude Aquavlva Mother Xavier Warde . $1s{er Mary Julian To Teaching Sisters . ~'ope Plus XII Secular Institutes . Francis N. Korth Intellectual Obedldnce . Augustine G. I:llard I, Book Reviews" Questions and Answers ForI Your Information Communications VOLUME XIV NUMBER 5 R Vlg:W FOR RI::LIGiOUS VOLUME XIV SEPTEMBER, 1955 NUMBER CONTENTS EXTERNAL GRACE IN THE SPIRITUALITY OF PI~RE CAUSSADE-- 'john A. Hardon, S.'J . 225 SOME RECENT PAMPHLETS . 234 EFFECTIVE GOVERNING-~Claude Aquaviva, S.'J .2.3.5. FOR YOUR INFORMATION . 240 MOTHER MARY XAVIER WARDE-~Sister Mary ,Julian Baird, R.S.M. 241 TO TEACHING SISTERS--Pope Plus XII . 251 THE DEDICATED LIFE AND SECULAR INSTITUTES-- Francis N. Korth, S.'J . 257 A RATIONAL APPROACH TO INTELLECTUAL OBEDIENCE-- ~ Augustine G. Ellard, S.3 . . 261 COMMUNICATIONS (on "praying reasonably," and on retreats) 266 OUR CONTRIBUTORS . 266 BOOK REVIEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS-- Editor: Bernard A. Hausmann, S.,J. West Baden College West Baden Springs, Indiana . 267 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS-- 22. Introducing a Thirty-Day Retreat . 278 23. Introducing Perpetual Adoration . 278 24. New Devotions at Mother House . 279 25. Introducing Lay Retreats at Mother House . 279 26. Annual Retreat outside Houses of Institute . 279 27. Rank of Lay Sister when Grade is Abolished . 280 28. Extended Vacations for Favored Group .280 REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, September, 1955. Vol. XIV, No. 5. Published bi-monthly: 3anuary, March, May, 3uly, September, and November at the College Press, 606 Harrison Street, Topeka, Kansas, by St. Mary's College, St. ~vlarys, Kansas, with ecclesiastical approbation. Entered as second class matter 3anuary 15, 19420 at the Post Office, Topeka, Kansas, under the act of March 3, 1879. Editorial Board: Augustine G. Ellard, S.J., Adam C. Ellis, S.J., Gerald Kelly, S.'J., Francis N. Korth, 8.2. Literary Editor: Edwin F. Falteisek, S.2. Copyright, 1955, by Adam C. Ellis, S.~I. Permission is hereby granted for quota-tions of reasonable length, provided due credit be given this review and the author. Subscription price: 3 dollars a year; 50 cents a copy Printed in U. S. A. Before writing to us, please consult notice on inside back cover. l:::x ernal Grace in the Spirltuali F ot: P re Caussade John A. Hardon, S.J. pERE CAUSSADE ~.s unique an~ong ascetical writers in modern times. The one book on which his reputation rests, L'Aban-don a la Providence Divine, was not published by him but edited a hundred years af~ter his death, by Father Rami~re, the apostle of the Sacred Heart in France. I.t was not even a book in the ac-cepted sense but a collection of 1.32 letters of spiritual direction, which he wrote to the Religious of the Visitation at Nancy~ where he had charge of the local retreat house. Yet this posthumous work has enjoyed a diffusion 'perhaps unequalled in its class during the past century. As of 19218, it had gone through twenty-one editions in French and had been, translated into a dozen languages. In the new Enciclopedia Cattolica, published under Vatican auspices, the author is described as "the classic teacher of resign,ation to the will of God." I The full title of the original edition, Self-Abandonment to Divine Providence, Constldered as the Easiest Means of Sanctification, gives us the clue to its Wide popularity. In the mind of Caussade, the easiest way to spiritual perfection--for everyone--is complete resignation to the super.~atural providence of God. As such, the idea was nothing new, but Caussade's hafidling of the subject was decidedly new. He integrated this ,familiar concept into the body of Catholic doctrin~ onI external grace and thereby clarified what previously had been known, but not so pointedly realized. The following study is "inteNded to synthesize the basic elements of Caussade's teaching oni self-abandonment to divine providence, where the latter is conceived as a veritable atmosphere of external graces in which God pla~es our life, and through which He designs our salvation and sanctification. The Meaning of External Grace In the spirituality of P~re Caussade, the activity of God is de-scribed as embracing all time and all things, operating without ceasing and with divine surety for the sanctlficanon of human souls. He sees all creation as unified in this divine operation and conse-quently regards every creature, in its way, as a predestined means 225 JOHN A. HARDON Review for" Religious to lead men to their supernatural end; in other words, 'as a grace of God. "The order established by God, the good pleasure of God, the will of God, the action of God--grace--all. of these are the same thing in this life. It is God laboring to make the soul like to Him-self. And perfection is nothing else than the soul's faithful co-oper-ation with this labor of God." Moreover, what may not seem im-mediately evident, since the power of God is infinite, it is not only the good things but also the evil which He can use to accomplish His eternal designs upon men; so that "everything succeeds in the hands of God, He turns everything into .good." Although P~re Caussade makes no distinction between internal and external graces, but considers everything in some sense as a grace of God, yet it is not difficult to trace such a distinction in his writings. Following the common terminology, graces are called ex-ternal when they are outside of man's intellect and will and internal when they are immediately and specially received from God within the intellect and will. In answer to the question, then-~What does Caussade regard as an external grace?--he would answer, "Every creature which is "not an internal grace of God." "The divine order gives to all things, in favor of the soul which conforms to it, a super-natural and God-given. value. Whatever this order imposes, what-ever it comprehends, and all objects to which it extends, become sanctity and perfection; for its virtue knows no limits, but divinizes all things which it touches." As extensive as it is, this concept of external grace is in full accord with Catholic theology. St. Augustine, for example, does not hesitate to call external graces all the effects of supernatural providence which help the human will to perform acts of virtue and those which, under divine guidance, prevent men from committing sin. Different Kinds of External Grace An exhaustive classification of the various types of external grace described by Caussade would run into a score of items. But these can easily be reduced to several large divisiofis. Eoergthing which is good. As a general principle, the love of God transforms into grace everything which is good, nor does i't limit this transformation only to such things as appear good to as. For divine love is present in all creatures, with the sole exception of those which are sinful and contrary to the law of God. Temporal afflictions and adversities. God uses them to convert and sanctify our souls. No matter how painful, sickness and physi- 226 September, 1955 CAUSSADE ON EXTERNAL GRACE cal suffering are in reality a grace of God, always intended as such for the one suffering and sometimes used by Him for the conversion and sanctification of others. Writing on one occasion to a friend whose fields were destroyed in °a storm, Caussade expressed his sym-pathy that "hail and the rains have done great damage in many provinces, including your own. But God intends this'as a grace, that we may derive profit from all the plagues of heaven for the ex-piation of our sins." Spiritual and psychological trials. It is generally easier to accept sickness and temporal adversity as coming from God than to recog-nize His gift in the negative conditions of our mind and emotions: aridity in 1Stayer, coldness in spiritual things, anxieties, discourage-ments, and fears. Caussade does not subscribe to the theory that these states of mind and feeling are a certain sign of negligence on the part of the soul. Without denying this possibility, he prefers, with St. John of the Cross, to consider them as species of'divine grace. "Just as God converts, reproves, and sanctifies people living in the wo, rld through afflictions and temporal adversities, so He or-dinarily converts, reproves and sanctifies persons living in religion by means of spiritual adversities and interior crosses, a thousand times more painful, such as dryness, fatigue and distaste" for the things of God. The actions o[ others. God uses the actions of other people as graces for our sanctification. Their ordinary words, conduct, and gestures are in'tended as means of producing supernatural effects in our souls. This is particularly hard to see where the actions are offensive and the offender is personally not wicked, and may even be highly virtuous. Hence the exclamation. "Blessed be the God of all things and in all things, but especially because He knows how to use all things for sanctifying His elect through one another . He often uses a diamond to polish another diamond. How important is this thought for our consolation, that we may never be scandalized at the petty persecutions which good men sometimes occasion against each other." In this connection, St. John of the Cross used to say that a religious is refined and sanctified in word, thought, and action by the character and manner of conduct of his fellow religious. It is of special importance to see. God operating in the perse-cution or perhaps criminal actions of others. He permits these things in order to draw good out of them. Thus St. Paul's inspired pane-gyric on the great believers of the Old Law--Noe, Abraham, Moses, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph--is an application of this principle, that 227 JOHN A. HARDON God tries His chosen servants by sending them trial ahd opposition~ and their sanctification is determined by the measure of faith which recognizes in these human obstacles the workings of divine grace. This was tbe~spirit in which David accepted the cursing of Semei, as a just punishment ordained by God for his spiritual welfare. With St. Augustine, therefore, we should "marvel at the way G6d uses even the malice of those who are wicked in order to help and elevate those who are good." Temptations. If considered as coming from the devil,' ten~pta-tions are directed only to the destruction of souls; but from the viewpoint of God's permissive will, which never allows us to be tried beyond our strength, they are true graces. And "violent temp-tations" are especially "great graces for the soul." By the same token, the revolt of the passions, which is often a cause of anxiety to spir-itual persons/should not be regarded as evidence of aversion from God,*but, "on the contrary, as a greater grace than you can con-ceive." Troubles of conscience may be estimated in the same manner. Sins at least might seem to be excluded from the category of external graces. Evidently God does not want anyone to commit sin. And yet, says Caussade, "we must remember that, without willing sin, God uses it as an effective instrument to keep us in hu-mility and self-depreciation." This thought is very much like that of St. Augustine who, when speaking of' Peter's denial of his Ma~ter; explained that God permitted this humiliation to teach him not to trust in himself-~thus turning a grievous fault into spiritual ac-quisition. Sanctif~ting Effect of External Graces The sanctifying effect of external graces was already familiar to Sts. Augustine and Thomas Aquinas, who recognized that God exercises a special supernatural providence over souls who are living in His friendship. What seems to be Caussade's contribution in this matter is the tie-up which he made between external graces and the sacramental system; while only analogous, there is a real simi-larity between the two. In both cases, the external element is an in-strument for the communication of grace. External graces are sanctifying in countless ways. But in general Caussade concentrates on the three most familiar in the spiritual life; n~mely, by purification, illumination, and union with God. This -is not to say .that only these effects take place, or that they Occur in any.particular sequence; and least of all does it mean that Caussade 228 September, 1955 CAUSSADE ON EXTERNAL GRACE ignores the correlative necessity of internal grace to ourify, enlighten, and unite the soul with God. I. P~ri[ication The second volume of the French edition of L'Abandon is mainly concerned with the purifying effect of external grace, achieved through detachment from creatures and stripping of self. Repeatedly the axiom is stated that "a person cannot be united with God, source of all purity, except through detachment from everything created, source of impurity and continual corruption." To this end "it is necessary that our souls be emptied [of creatures], before God can fill them with His own Spirit." By means of external graces, and especially suff4ring, God ac-complishes in us this detachment from creatures and self. There is a difference, however, in His way of acting with different persons. Those already advanced in the spiritual life, He is accustomed to "despoil of all gifts and sensible f~rvor," whereas "the effect of His mercy is to deprive worldly persons of temporal goods in order to detach their heart from them." Time and again, Caussade, stresses the same truth: God purifies the soul by suffering and trial. But he goes beyond the ordinary in-terpretation of the statement in Scripture that the just man is tried by afflictions as gold is tried by fire. "Crosses and tribulations," he says, "are such great graces that generally sinners are not converted except through them, and good persons are not made perfect except by the same means. Following the analogy used by the saints, Caussade compares God to a doctor who administers bitter medicine to restore health to the soul and removes with the scalpel of suffering whatever stands in the way of our spiritual progress. According to St. Augustine, "in those whom He loves, God, like a wise physlciam cuts away the tumor" of overweening self-confidence. To be specially noted is that this law of purification is universal; it applies as well to worldly minded as to saintly souls; it affects temporal goods as well as spir-itual attachments; and it is proportionally more intense and com-plete as the degree of union with Himself to which God intends to raise a soul is greater. Thus'St. John of the Cross: "according to the proportion of its purity will also be the degree of enlightenment, illumination and union of the soul with God, either more "or less"; and the requisite purity is obtained in the crucible of purification. Caussade therefore concludes that "the more God retrenches nature,,. the more He bestows the supernatural.'" 229 JOHN A. HARDON Reoiew for Religious II. Illumination External graces also enlighten the soul to recognize l!h'e will of God in its regard. Caussade looks upon this manifestation of the divine will as th~ "~piritual direction of God." One of the surest means of sanctification, he believes, is simply to use whatever God, ¯ the supreme. Director of souls, places before us moment by moment, e.ither to do or to suffer. Souls who thus abandon themselves to the will of God find evidence everywhere of what He wants them to do. They are directed "by the intermittent actions of a thousand creatures, which serve, without study, as so many graces of instruc-tion." Consequently, God is seen as leading us as much by the external events of our life as by the internal inspirations of His grace. He - "speaks" to us as He spoke to our Fathers, to Abraham and to the chosen people, showing us His will in all the circumstances which befall us. Addressing himsel~ to God, Caussade declares: "You speak, Lord, to the generality of men by great public events. Every revolution is as a wave from the sea of Your providence, raising storms and tempests in the minds of those who question Your mys-terious action. You speak also to each individual soul by the cir-cumstances occurring at every moment of life. Instead, however, of hearing Your vdice in these events, and receiving with awe what is obscure and mysterious in tbese Your words, men see in tbem only the outward aspect,' or chance, or the caprice of others, and cen-sure everything. They would like to ad& or diminisIi, or reform, and to allow themselves absolute liberty to commit any excess, the least of which would be a criminal and unheard-of outrage. "They respect the Holy Scriptures, however, and will not per-mit the addition of a single comma. 'It is the word of God,'. they say, 'and is altogether holy and true. If we cannot understand it, it is all the more wonderful and we must give glory to God, and render justice to the. depths of His wisdon~.' All this is perfectly true, but when you read God's word from moment to moment, not written with ink on paper, but on your soul with suffering, and the daily actions that you have to perform, does it not merit some at-tention on your part? How is it that you cannot see the will of God in all ~his?" Every circumstance, therefore, of our daily life is an expression of the divine will .for us at that moment. And, correspondingly., .every external grace is meant for our "guidance and illumination:'i Commenting'o'n thi~ doctrin~e in L'.A.bandon, Garrigou-Lagrange. 230 September, 1955" CAUSSADE ON EXTERNAL GRACE 'points out another function' which external grace may serve as a means of our instruction. "In this way," he says, "within us is formed that experimental knowledge of God's dealings with us, a knowledge without which we can" hardly direct our course aright in spiritual things or do any lasting good to others. In the spiritual order more than anywhere else real knowledge can be acquired only by suffering and action." For example, "we foresee that a very dear friend who is sick has not long to live, yet when death does come and if our eyes are open" to see, it will provide a new lesson in which God will speak to us as time gbes on. This is the school of the Holy Ghost, in which His lessons have nothing academic about them, but are drawn from concrete things. And He varies them for each soul, since what is useful for one is not always so for an-other." An important element in this experimental knowledge is the experience it gives us of our weakness and imperfection in the face of trial and temptation. These occasions--external graces of tribu-lation- show us how impotent we are to do any good without the help of God, and teach us to turn to Him in'stead of depending on ourselves; for, as Caussade e~plains, "We must be thoroughly con-vinced that our misery is the cause of all the weaknesses we experi-ence, and that God permits them by His mercy. Without this re-alization we shall never be cured of secret presumption and self-complacent pride. We shall never understand, as we should, that all the evil in us comes from ourselves, and all the good from God. But a thousand experiences are needed before we shall acquire this two fold knowledge as an abiding habit: experiences which are. more necessary the greater and more deeply rooted in the soul is this vice of self-complacency." III. Union with God The most important effect of external graces is the union with God which they develop in the soul, to which purity and illuminatiofi are only contributing means. In a famous passage, P~re Caussade regrets that more people do not appreciate this power that creatures have to unite us with the Creator. ",What great truths are hidden ever; from Christians who imagine themselves most enlightened. How many are there among us who understand that every cross, every action, every attraction according to the designs of God, gives God to us in a way that nothing can better'explain than a .comparison with the most august mystery?-Nevertheless there is nothing more 231 JOHN A. HARDON Ret~iew for Religious certain. Does not reason as well as faith reveal to us the real pres-ence of divine love in all creatures, and in all the events of life, as indubitably as the words of Jesus Christ and of the Church reveal the real prese~nce of the sacred flesh of our Savior under the Eucharistic species? Do we not know that by all creatures and by every event, the divine love desires to unite us to Himself, that He has ordained, arranged, or permitted everything about us, everything that happens to us with a view to this union? This is the ultimate o~bject of all His designs, to attain which He makes use of the worst of His creatures as well as the best, of the most distressing events as well as those which are pleasant and agreeable." It may be added by way of explanation that Caussade, in com-mon with traditional theology, understands union with God in two ways, as active and as passive. In active union, the soul gives itself to God by conformity to His will; in passive union, however, besides the active conformity of will, God Himself acts in the soul by ~he gifts of His interior grace. Obviously, external graces cannot, of themselves produce the latter kind of union; they only dispose the soul to receive it. Yet, in the ordinary providence of God, they are the conditio-sine-qua-non for passive union with God. This doctrine which regards external graces as disposing the soul for passive union is familiar from the writings of St. John of the Cross. It is also the underlying theme of The Abandonment to Divine Providence. God uses external events,, persons, places, and circumstances to perfect a human soul in His love. This may take place in a variety of ways. 1. External graces give us occasion to resist temptation and acquire the contrary virtues. In general, temptations are said to be the effect or permissive result of "one and the same mortifying and life-giving operation of God. On the one hand, He allows the various movements of passion to give you an opportunity for combat and development in the opposite virtues. On the other hand, He estab-lishes in you, in the midst of these agitations, the solid foundation of perfection, namely, understanding, profound humility, and hatred of self." Thus conceived, the fight against temptations takes bn a nobler meaning. Without them we should remain satisfied with a minimum of effort, with less intense acts of virtue. They spell the difference between a certain regularity in well doing and the fervor which leads to high sanctity. 2. These trials not only help us acquire solid virtue, but they prepare us" for union with God, that "you may love God for 232 September, 1955 CAUSSADE ON EXTERNAL GRACE Himself at the cost of yourself." We are also given occasion to prove our love, as declared by St. Francis de Sales, that "it is not in ab-negation, nor in action, but in suffering that we give the best evi-dence of our love . To love suffering and affliction for the love of God is the high-point of heroic charity; for then nothing else is lovable except the divine will." 3. Finally, external graces assist our growth in sanctity and render us more apt for union with God by increasing the store of supernatural merit. Divorced from the spirit of faith, the routine details of domestic and religious life'seem to be quite meaningless. In reality "these 'trifling' daffy virtues, faithfully practiced, will bring you a rich treasure of graces and merits for eteznity." More heavy trials, says Caussade, ale more meritorious. This does not mean that the &gee of merit corresponds to the difficulty of the work performed, which is false. But in supporting burdens that are more difficult, we generally give a greater proof of virtue than when doing actions which are more agreeable. Difficult tasks not infrequently demand the outpouring of all the generosity of which a soul is capable. Estimate of P~re Caussade When introducing P~re Caussade's L'Abandon to the public, Henri Rami~re felt he should answer the first question that comes to the mind of anyone familiar with some of the aberrations in - French spirituality that were current in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Is there any danger that this doctrine of abandonment, if put into literal practice, will lead to a type of quietism which says that "in the state of perfect resignation to God, the soul renounces every act and exercise of any virtue, and remains in quiet repose in the presence of God"? P~re Rami~ke first analyzed Caussade's theological principles, somewhat as we have done in ,,the foregoing study, and concluded that they are founded on the" bedrock of Christian asceticism, as taught by the Church~s tradition and as practiced by the greatest saints. Then he makes a number of distinctions, which completely dissipate any misgivings about the orthodoxy of Self-Abandonment. Caussade did not °write a c~mplete treatise on Christian perfec-tion. He took only one aspect~ namely, submission to the will of God, and omitted--without tl~e suggestion of denying--the bulk of ascetical principles, in whos~ light this one aspect must always be viewed. Moreover, the people for whom he was writing were persons already advanced in vibtue, consecrated to a life of perfec- 233 SOME' RECENT PAMPHLETS tion, who could be considered as already practicing the essentials of the gdspel precepts and counsels. The basic error of quietism was its utter passivity, equivalently denying the necessity of man's active cooperation with the grace of God. To attribute this kind of passivity to the self-abandonment recommended by Caussade would be to completely distort its mean- : rag. It is something eminently active, in combatting self-love, repug-nance, and the snares of the devil. Its "passivity"--so-called--con-sists in the nonresistance to God's will, and in the fruit of this non- .resistance, which is an e;cer more perfect indwelling of the Holy, Spirit. Given these distinction~, Rami~re concludes, so far from being dangerous,, the doctrine of Self-Abandonment "may be taught to p.ersons in every walk of life, and, if properly undi~rstood, will make sanctity appear to them most accessible," as it really is.1 1The most detailed study of this question is ~y E. J. Cuskelly, M.S.C., "'La Grace Ext~rieure D'Apr~s Le P. De Caussade,'" Revue d'Asc~tique et de Mgstique, 1.952, pp. 224-42, 337-58, from which the present article has drawn many ideas. SOME RECENT PAMPHLETS GRAIL PUBLICATIONS, St. Meinrad, Indiana. Follow Christ. Edited by Gerard Ellspermann. O.S.B. This is a vocation pamphlet. Pp. 64. 25 cents.--Hints on Preaching. By Joseph V. O'Connor. Pp. 50. 25 cents.--Pilgrimage to Fatima. By Jerome Palmer, O.S.B. Pp. 42. 15 cents.--The Six Sundays of ~Saint Aloysius Gonzaga. Compiled by L., N. Douglas. Pp. 30. 15 cents.--Whg on Sundatls? By John M. Scott, S.J. Pp., 44. 15 cents. THE LITURGICAL PRESS, St. John's Abbey, Collegeville, Minn. Sanctifging Pregnancg. By Margaret .Place. Pp. 39. 15 cents.--Liturgg's Inner Beautg. By Abbot Ildefons Herwegen. Translated by William Busch: Pp. 44. 20 cents. THE NEWMAN PRESS, Westminster, Maryland. An Eas~j Method of Mental Prager. By Bertrand Wilberforce, O.P. Pp. 31. 50 cents. ~ SOCIETY OF SAINT PAUL, 2187 Victory Blvd.; Staten Island 14, N.Y. ~ A Preparation /:or Perpetual Vows. By James J. McQuade, S.J. Pp. 62. THE QUEEN'S WORK, 3115 So. Grand Blvd., St. Louis 18, Mo. Recover!j, Inc. By John J. Higgins, S.J. Pp. 32.~Novena to St; doseph. By Sister Emily Joseph, C.S.J. Pp. 32. So You Want Peace of Min$! By Hugh P. O'Neill, S.J. Pp. 24--Hold Your Tdngue! By Winfrid Herbst, S.D.S. Pp. 31~Mothers with Empty Arms. By Rev. John J. Regan. Pp. 24. --That Won-derful Sundag Mass. By Daniel A. Lord, S.J. Pp.~32.--Will You Save "Souls? By Ferdinand Schoberg, S.J. Pp. 30.--The Loving Heart of a Mother. By Daniel A. Lord, S.J. Pp. 32.--You're Sense-ational! By Rev. Chester Wrzaszc-zak. Pp. 32.--Each, I0 cents. 234 Governing Claude" Aquaviva, S.J. [EDITORS' NOTE: While superior general of the Society of Jesus, Father Claude Aquaviva wrote a treatise called the Industriae, which was intended to help super-iors deal with the "spiritually ill"--that is, subjdcts with ~motional problems~ The second, and perhaps most celebrated, chapter of the lndustriae contains many suggestions for combining firmness and gentleness in governthent, When we beglin publishing various items under the genera! heading "The Good Superior," it' was suggested that we publish an English version of this celebrated chapter. For the version given here, we are indebted,to Father W. Coleman Nevils, S.J. and Mr. James E. Whalen, S.J.] ~ RACIOUSNESS must go hand .in hand with: strefi.gth.ih ef- ~ fective governing. This especially applies, to a commfinit~; o'f religious who voluntarily have given themselves to G6d's service, who have a spontaneous and enthusiastic desire to be directed aright in the path of perfection and are animgted thereto by ~he practice of mortification and self-denial. Thd fathers of the Church as well as our constitutions abundantly dictate the necessity of uniting graciousness and firmness in all administration. St. Ignatius himself, by word and example, taught this lesson. However, to combifie these two in practice is no easy task. We are dealing with.those who profess to,follow the path of perfectiori and should be ever eager and anxious that nothing be omitted that' may be helpful thereto: yet, the flesh and human weakness are not always able to follow with equal strides the aspirations of the spirit. A process of governing may be initiated with highest zeal, but it ma~ also fail to be guided by knowledge. As a result, this way of governing, oblivious of human weakness, would become harsh and simply intolerable. Again, if we keep our eyes fixed on human weak-ness and under pretext of brotherly compassion yield to what the flesh desires against the spirit, shall we not have a community of tepid and carnal men in whom we shall be fostering not the spirit of abnegation and love of the cross but sensuality and self-will? For, as the Scriptures say, "Its torrent sweeps away the 'soil of the earth" (Job 14: 19). Thus we destroy the ess'ence of the religious life. That the religious life means abnegation and love, of the cross is the iesson beautifully taught by .St. Basil and all other spiritual masters; .instructed by Christ our Lord, they have handed down the same lesson as the principle and foundation of the religious life. What then is-t.he superior to do to keep firmness from degenerating into severity or graciousness into langour and laxity? As far as I have been able to learn from experience and observation, I will now explain this 235 CLAUDE AQUAVIVA Re~ieu~ for Religious very briefly. To do this clearly and concisely, I have felt that the most convenient plan would be to draw up certain headings of rigorous and severe governing and likewise to enumerate some causes 6f laxity. Then through a comparison of the two extremes, to in-dicate how we may keep to a middle course. A. HARSH AND DISAGREEABLE GOVERNING: 1. If heavy and unbearable burdens are imposed; this is some-times due to indiscretion on the part of the superior and his narrow mindedness. , 2. If, as more frequently happens, the task is not so difficult in itself, but the one on whom it is imposed would find it so, because .he has neither the physical nor spiritual strength to bear it. 3. No matter what the task is, if it is imposed in a harsh way, with a certain despotic manner; especially if the superior appears to be influenced by some inordinate mi~tive. 4. If the task is imposed at an inopportune time when the sub-ject is not properly disposed and no time has been granted nor a.ny help given that the subject may become better disposed. 5. If there is lacking a sense of proportion, and hence light burdens and heavier ones are imposed with the same ardor; in fact it can happen that, because of some fad or fancy of the superior, lighter duties are made more of than more serious ones. 6. If all attempts made by the subject to expose excuses and explain personal difficulties in this particular task are abruptly rejected as temptations, without any effort to listen in a kindly way. . 7. If the superior shows himself of a suspicious nature and so .ill-disposed that the subject has not a chance to present his dif-ficulties, etc., and has no hope of ever satisfying the superior. 8. If the superior has preconceived an unfavorable opinion of the subject and is always disposed to put an unworthy interpretation on whatever he does, this causes great affliction. 9. If, while considering the institute and the rules and failing to look at himself, the superior makes no allowance for the weak-nesses of others; if, in fact, he greatly exaggerates their defects and, in assigning tasks, acts not as if he were dealing with a son who is rational and willing but with insensible instruments at his disposal. 10. If he is not clear and gives orders in an equivocal way as if he purposely does not want to be understood, so that he can easily ¯ blame the subject if the result is not as might be desired--it is a- 0 ~mazing how very irritating this defect is to the subject. '236 September, 1955 EFFECTIVE GOVERNING I 1. If he never knows how to say "yes" to any petition; rather let him weigh well the request and by whom it is made and see if it is edifying for the community or externs and of advantage to the -subject. 12. Finally, if in doubtful cases he is always rather strict and rigid in his interpretations. B. WEAK AND LAx GOVERNING: 1.~ If attention is paid only to the big things and the mere avoidance of scandal is the norm, while everything else is let slide along. 2. If rules are looked upon rather lightly either because they seem so numerous or under the pretext of their gracious phrasing by the original founder. 3. If what has over because subjects others urge a change, sed over. 4. If, from the grows accustomed to been enjoined is easily changed or e'~en p~ssed show some slight repugnance: or if, because it is made or even the whole injunction is pas-frequent transgressions of some, the superior regard violations as not so wrong though he really knows they are wrong. 5. !'f he does pass judgme'nt and a[tually disapproves, but in order not to pain anyone or stir up a hornet's nest, be omits admoni-tion or refuses to give a reproof, let him refledt on St. Gregory's warning that in his fear to speak out, his silence gives consent. 6'. If, to console certain .individuals and to keep them from murmuring, eitt~er because of the position they hold or have held, or on account of friendship or for some personal regard, be easily makes concessions which both for those so favored and for the edification of the community are not proper. 7. If, in order to avoid any unpleasantness with this one or that, he either shuts his eyes to faults or administers no correction and, as if to be on the safe side, ;:toes not take the necessary steps. 8. If, under the pretext of humility or meekness, be allows him-self to be disregarded and his own words to be contemned. 9. If, from natural timidity or some other weakness, he admon-ishes in a routine and lifeless way, so that he makes no impression on the delinquent, and acts as if he were only doing so because he is obliged to do so before God, thus freeing himself from any scruple for baying omitted a correction. I0. Finally, if he feels that now he has done his duty, when,' 237 CLAUDE AQUAVIVA Review /=or ~Religious content with admonitions he has shown his displeasure at what has been wrong, but does not take efficacious means for its correction, and, like Hell, thinks he has accomplished everything if be should say, "What wickedness is this of yours, that brings me the complaints of a whole people!" (I Samuel 2:24) C. GRACIOUSNESS AND EFFECTIVENESS IN GOVERNING From the above we can easily see where there is harshness and where weakness and laxity; and either extreme must be avoided--not to be unduly hard nor too lenient. Nor is it difficult to see how effectiveness 9ught to be joined to graciousness, so that there will result strength in securing the end desired and graciousness in the manner and way it is attained. For, in making concessions and in denying them, in correction and reprimand, in punishing those who Wfail, in giving orders, in advancing subjects to virtue and perfectiofi and drawing them to a higher life, consideration must be given to the individual himself, his powers of body and soul; opportunities must be well weighed, exhortation used, and above all charity joined with zeal must hold highest sway; forbearance and patience must be constantly preserved. However, it must not be allowed that subjects aspire to act with impunity, doing just what they wish and omitting what they do not wish with the result that they satisfy their own inclinations and be-come accustomed to act and to relish what they desire even against the orders and decisions' of superiors; that they look upon the rules as mere counsels, which, if observed, they do well, but if not observed, there is no harm done. To tolerate this is not graciousness but slug-gishness; it is not to look to the good of the order, nor to the good even of those who are',so dealt with. Let not superiors imagine them-selves kindly and gracious if they govern in this manner; indeed, they are remiss in their duty and are weaklings. Nor let them flatter them-selves that, when they are harsh, they are only zealous for religious discipline. But let not subjects call rigorous and harsh an effort or zeal which is made to sustain religious discipline and to prorhote perfection. Nor let them exact such g,raci.ousness on the part of the superior that is rather a harmful indulgence.~ Rather let them under-stand that many things, if impediments to perfection, must be denied them; and many injunctions must be given which may not be to their liking but which pertain to the glory of God and to the good of the community. He who desires to be directed and improved must not try to shun all corrections and penances nor to regard that physician 238 September, 1955 F~FFECTIVE GOVERNING as kind who, for fear of offending the patient, neglects a cure and allows a disease to increase dangerously. Cassian in his conference on fickleness of soul claims that a certain Serenus, who, he says, mirrored in his person his name, had known of some cases where the indulgent governing of certain superiors had come to such a sorry state that they were obliged to coax with sweet words thei) subjects to stay in the cloister and not go out to the pernicious occasions of sin in the world; in fact that the greatest fruit to be hoped for was that subjects would shut themselves up in solitude, though remaining just as lazy as they wanted. The great cure-all of these indulgent superiors used to be this favorite pre-scription: "Stay in the cloister, and eat and drink and sleep all you want, so long as you stay in the cloister!" Let superiors, then, and especially provincials, be on their guard against too great indulgence and undue leniency, as these can work all sorts of ruin to a religious order; thence, graciousness is not to consist in gratifying every will and desire of subjects. We should recognize that graciousness lies in this, as we bare said, that in giving a reprimand, for example, there be no .harshness, no sign of ange~ or perturbation; rather, there shines forth a paternal interest, an affec-tionate sympathy, and a certain vigorous and efficacious agreeableness. Let the one who is being reproved realize that there is no question of a desire to give humiliation and punishinent, but only of a neces-sity to provide for the good of the community and for the true ad-vantage of the individual himself who is being punished. If we re-fuse what must be refused, let it appear we do so with regret, and that we are always ready to grant the request when it may be pos-sible or expedient to do so. If we wish to remedy a defect let us not be so hypercritical; rather, kindly enforcers who are not eager for the upperhand but for the good of the Society and of the subject himself, we should rather seem to be conspiring with him to gain a victory over the Tempter. In giving orders in a considerate and friendly way, we should show that we are seeking nothing else but God's glory and the good of the subjects. What cannot be granted today, may patiently be expected tomorrow, so th~it we are always looking expectantly to-wards the end and carefully applying the means thereto. Even though through the subject's lack of spirit we do not accomplish much, yet we cannot do anything more efficacious and gracious than to make him a careful examiner of his own spiritual welfare. Graciousness, in a word, is had if we treat subjects with a heart full of charity so 239 FOR YOUR INFORMATION that they readily entrust their temptations to the bosom, as it were, of their mother; and if, on the other hand, whatever corrections corn4 from us, the subject receives them not with irritation (no mat-ter how disagreeable to his feelings), but as springing from the sup-erior's love of him. Hence, St. Ignatius has taught in his constitutions that strictness must be so mixed with kindliness and gentleness that the superior never allows himself to be swayed from what he judge~ to be more pleasing to God, our Lord. As is fitting, let him l{now what it is to be compassionate with his sons, bearing himself in such a .way that even though those who are reprehended or corrected may be displeased according to their lower nature' at what is done, still they will acknbwledge that the superior is doing what is right before the Lord and that he does his duty with charity. Your nrrorma!:ion Apology and Explanation It was long our policy to printcommunlcat,ons' " ~from our read-ers, as well as items of information sent to us concerning their work, their publications, and so forth. During the past year we have had to omit much of this because material that had to be published left us very little extra space. We regret this because we believe that, besides being interesting, such items further mutual understanding among religious communities. We mention this now so that those who bare sent us communications and other material of an inform-ative nature.will realize that we have not purposely neglected them; also, we want to make it clear that this restriction of space has been a temporary measure. Material sent in future will be given due at-tention. The Mind of the Church As we have stated previously, the present mind of the Church concerning the government of religious is best expressed in three addresses by Pope Pius XII and in the address given by Father Larraona at'the conclusion of the meeting of mothers general in Rome, September, 1952. Father Larraona's address was published in our November, 1954, number. Of the three papal addresses, one (to the mothers general, September 15, 1952) wa~ published in (Continued on page 276.) 240 Mother M ry X vier W rde Sister Mary Julian Baird, R.S.M. [All facts for this account are taken from Reuerend Mother M. Xauier Wa~de by the Sisters of Mercy, Mount St. Mary's, Manchester, New Hampshire, published by Marlier and Company in Boston in 1902.] i l ~VEN by A,,m, erican standards," wrote one of her Irish bi/ ~ ographers, Mother Xavier was a stormy petrel." Certainly the mayor of Providence in the March of 1855 would have agreed with him. ~ Five years earlier, on the feast of the Translation of the Relics of St. Francs Xavier, the Sisters of Mercy from Pittsburgh, led by Mother Mary Xavier Warde, had made their first foundation in Rhode Island. Bigotry was rife in that section of New England, where only brave women would have come, and braver ones stayed. There were days when every window in their poor little house on Weybosset Street was broken by the Know-Nothings, an un-Ameri-can group that showed, in rough ways, hostility to anything Cath-olic. Of them, however, Mother Xavier would say to the sisters: "They have, no doubt, the best of motives. Only their judgments are clouded by prejudice. All that will pass away . " Well indeed it might have passed, thought Mayor Knowles, as he twisted his hat nervously while waiting for Mother Xavier in the parlor of the academy which Bishop O'Reilly had opened for the sisters in the October of the previous year. Had the sisters stayed in the poorer section of the city, ill-feeling might have died. Now the news of the more ambitious venture to' educate the daughters of the wealthier citizens of Providence had spread; alarm was general. What would not these Catholics achieve if left alone? The mayor sighed. He must persuade Mother Xavier and her nuns to leave the city. He rose hastily as she entered. This tall, 'well-proportioned woman with the keen, dynamic face and gracious manner silenced the speech of protest he had prepared. In rich, soft toneh she as-sured him of her pleasure in meeting the mayor of Providence. "Happy to have you in the city," he heard himself saying. Yet he had the presence of mind to add, "I wish we might ask you to remain." The question on Mother Xavier's face forced him to go on. The 241 SISTER MARY JULIAN BAIRD Review for Religious sisters were in serious danger, be continued. He could not hope to defend them against ten thousand ruffians bent on their destruction. They must leave the city, and soon. Mother Xavier looked her astonishment. "Your honor," she said, her voice still sofl~, "we have disre-garded no duty, no responsibility-of good citizenship. As a body of religious women we are laboring here in our own sphere. Have we given any provocation for this interference? Will Christian men constitute a mob against unoffending women? Are our rights as citizens not to be protected?" Mayor Knowles gripped his hat more firmly as he faced her. "I am powerless to prevent an uprising, Madame." "If I were chief executive of municipal affairs, I would know how to control the populace," she countered. Looking at her again, the mayor knew that this slender Irish woman could probably have done so. But he shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. "Best to go quietly," he repeated. Mother Xavier shook her head more stubbornly. "We will remain in our house, and if needs be, die rather than fly from the field of duty where God has placed us." She was true to her word. On March 22, less than a week later, the Sisters of Mercy were still resident in the academy on the corner of Broad ~nd Calverick Streets. As evening fell, the novices, ignor-ant of any danger, said their night prayers and "retired. The older religious stayed on guard before the Blessed Sacrament. Mother Xavier alone went to the garden where the Catholic men of Provi-dence, well,armed, took their places to protect the convent. From group to group she went, with evident calm, and exacted from each man a promise that no gun Would be raised nor offence given unless they were called on to do so in self-defense. The rioters made their way up the street, and, as they drew up in line before the silent convent, could see t~he quiet activity within the garden, the white linen coil and guimpe of Mother Xavier clear in the glare of the. street lamp. Gradually the calm was broken by hisses and cat-calls. The sisters were summoned by the mob leader to leave their convent. At this juncture, Bishop O'Reilly and Mr. Stead, the former owner of the property, appeared at the front entrance. In resonant tones Mr. Stead told of the armed force within the convent grounds. They were ~rishmen, he added meaningfully; and they could fight. 242 September, 1955 MOTHER MARY XAVIER WARDE Then the Bishop came forward. His words rang with sincerity. "My dear friends, in God's name, let not this city, nor the free institutions of this republic be tarnished by any dastardly uplifting of your arms against those who have wrought you no harm, but whose blameless lives are their sure defense before God and men. Depart in peace to your homes, and sully not your honor in act so vile." The night air was tense. Then, one by one, the rioters with-drew. Mother Xavier's courage and faith had won. This intrepid spirit was probably what had first attracted Cath-erine McAuley, foundress of the Sisters of Mercy in Ireland, to Frances Warde.She met her in the early days of her foundation, before establishing a new community of religious women was so much as in her thoughts. Fanny Warde was then a socialite in Dub-lin, a girl of only eighteen, the spoiled daughter of a widowed father. Wealth and good times had not filled her heart, however; and a few hours of every day were spent in helping Miss McAuley in her schools for poor children. In Fanny, Catherine McAuley found the counterpart of herself, a vivid, powerful personality alert to Christ's work for souls, and a born leader. Against the tranquillity of her own personality; Fanny's temperament seemed a mounting flame. Together they made a remarkable team. After the foundation of the community, when Fanny had become Sister Mary Xavier and was assistant to Mother McAuley in the Baggot Street house, it seemed a foregone conclusion that she would succeed to the office of superior when Catherine died. God changed that. Carlow, a thriving city some distance from Dublin, asked for Sisters of Mercy. Mother McAuley was quite justified in declaring that she bad no more to spare. The only leader left was Sister Xaviei', the only manager among her lay sisters was Sister Veronica. Neither of them could be moved from Dublin without crippling the work there. But on the heels of her refusal to make a foundation in Carlow came the swift and sudden death of Sister Veronica. This strong admonition of God was sufficient for Mother McAuley. A group of sisters was sent to Carlow at once. At their head went Sister Xavier, from that time on called Mother Xavier. Even before Mother McAuley's death in i 841, several new houses were founded from Carlow. When Bishop O'Connor of Pittsburgh, U.S.A., came seeking Sisters of. Mercy for his American poor, it was natural that he should g.o there to Mother Xavier. It was in-evitable that she would head the mission. Although only thirty- 243 SISTER MARY JULIAN BAIRD Review for Religious three years old at the time, she was accustomed to leadership since her early training under Mother McAuley. Strong, activel apostolic -~Mother Xavier was the ideal pioneer for the rough work that awaited her and her sisters in the United States. Her travels over America read like an Odyssey. A stop on the first trip to Pittsburgh when crossing the. Allegheny Mountains must have given her a poetic vision of the days ahead of her. Bishop O'Connor had the stagecoach stopped at the summit of the Alle-ghenies. Here, he told Mother Xavier, he had received a commission from Demetrius Gallitzin, the Apostle of the Alleghenies, who had died only three years before, to bring the sisters to teach his mountain children there. As Mother Xavier looked at the virgin-forests, through which the dauntless Russian prince-priest had traveled to cover his faptastically large parish., she thought, "This is America. This is the wilderness of Godlessness to which we must bring Christ and Mary. Here we must build again the City of God." $o she pledged her word, to be redeemed by the Pittsburgh sisters in 1848, that some of them would fulfill the dying wish of Father Gallitzin. Pittsburgh itself would have .been enough for a smaller soul's ambition. The basement of the convent became a school immedi-ately after their arrival from Ireland. Visitation of the sick was be-gun at once. The sisters took charge of the girls of the Cathedral Sunday School while the bishop's students continued to care for the boys. On the first floor of the convent, Mother Xavier instructed a large' class of adults. Her impressive manner and clarity of ex-p! anation were instrumental in winning many souls. So large did the adult classes become as the fame of her gracious and simple inter-course spread, that the opening of further day schools had to be delayed eight months after the foundation, while she transferred her clasges to the first floor of the newly constructed' school. Soon girls of the better families were attracted to join the sisters in their work, and the first American novice, Miss Elizabeth Tiernan, received the Mercy habit on April 11, 1844. In honor of the Ameri-can foundress, she asked for the name Sister Mary Xavier. It was she whom Mother Xavier took with her when she returned to Ire-land seeking mbre recruits. Generous though American girls were, they could not be trained quickly en6ugh to supply sufficient work-ers for the increasing labors that opened to the sisters. When Mother Xavier came back with more Irish nuns, the bishop of Chicago, a newly formed diocese, demanded that she keep a'promise made to him the day she 'landed in New York harbor. Sisters of Mercy were 244 September, 1955 MOTHER MARY XAVIER WARDE needed in the West, he had told her, and she had said she would send him some as soon as possible. Now, he seemed to think, that must be. $o, in the summer of 1846, Mother Xavier took there six of her Pittsb,urgh nuns. The trip by stagecoach was killing; accomo-dations in the then primitiye city were beyond her imaginings. In the small wooden city of Chicago, with its fifteen thousand inhabi-tants, the sisters' home was a rude shack. Even the bishop won-dered, as .he talked with Mother Xaviec the morning after her ar-rival, if he should have asked such women to face such privation. Mother Xavier smiled at his consternation and lifted her finger. Through the rough boards that formed a wall between the room in which they were talking and the so-called community i~oom of the sisters, came the sound of merry laughter and happy voices. "The sisters are content," she assured him. And he was satisfied. For the first months they worked unceasingly. The customary works of mercy--visitation of the sick and poor, instruction in re-ligion, and the opening of schools--were launched. Among the pupils who came to the first school of the sisters in Chicago were children of trappers, bordermen, hardy settlers, sea-faring men, brigh~ matter-of-fact children whose spontaneous vivacity appealed to Mother Xavier's own simplicity of heart and direct approach. Even the Indians fell beneath the charm of her personality, calling her "Palefaced Mother." When the foundation seemed able to continue without her aid, Mother Xavier planned to return alone to Pittsburgh. It was winter. In view of the difficulties of the journey to Chicago, when the weather was clement and she had the company of six sisters and the brother of the bishop who accompanied them, it seemed noth-ing short of madness for her to consider such a step. The decision was part of her careless courage, of her constant minimizing of her own hardship, and, above all, of her boundless confidence in the providence of God. For a week, all by herself, dressed in secular clothes, she traveled through the bleakness, over prairie and wilderness, through mud-bogs and, blizzards until she reached Pittsburgh on a cold, rainy morn-ing. At the convent, she had only the strength to knock on the door. The amazed sisters found her on the doorstep in a state of utter collapse. For ten days-she hung between life and death. Then, as though, like dohn Henry Newman, she realized that she had "a ¯ work to do," Mother Xavier began to recover. There was still al- 245 SISTER MARY .JULIAN BAIRD Review /:or Rellqlous most a half-century more of pioneering before her. Had she died then, Mayor Knowles of Providence would prob~ ably have had no worry about the Know-Nothings demolishing the convent of the Sisters of Mercy. For it was to his city that she led a party of sisters in 1850. At this so-called Parent House of New England, Mother Xavier stayed. Pittsburgh was to see her no more. From here ~he opened missions in Hartford and New Haven in the May of 1852. It was then that she noted in her journali ardent desire to see Christ's little ones trained under the guidance of religious teachers is coming to pas.s to an extent far beyond what I ever dared to hope . How true is the old proverb, 'The first step is the only difficulty.' " As the Western children had attracted her, so in these new fields she praised "the grand, sturdy, New England character." But this may have been what one of her clerical friends called her undefeatable optimism. "With Mother Xavier," he said, "all the geese are swans." She always, in her own estimation, lived in the best possible section of the country among the best people that God had ever made. There was also notable in her outlook a broadness very well illustrated in the debate as to whether the Sisters of Mercy should have schools for the well-to-do or confine themselves to the instruction of the poor. The issue first arose in the American mission in Pittsburgh when .the bishop proposed the building of St. Xavier Academy at Latrobe. Only Mother Xavier voted for the project.t The other sisters said that there was more than enough work for them to do among the numberless l~oor; that their community had been founded specifically for the service of the least fortunate of Christ's children. Knowing M~ther McAuley as well as she did, Mother Xavier did not hesitate to challenge this opinion. It is the need for mercy that dictates our activities, she reminded them; the spirit of the institute is mercy in whatever form it is required. Specifically of this she wrote: "Charity may be practised on the rich . Let us d~o good to rich and poor as our Divine Master did while here on earth." At Rochester, New York, a foundation was made in 1,857, The following year Bishop Bacon of Portland, Maine, appealed to her for sisters. In his letter he stated bluntly: "Only the piety, the courage, the zeal and the hardihood of a pioneer religious will ever be able to rough it in the establishment of Catholic schools in Maine and New Hampshire." When the sisters heard this, they knew that they must lose Mother Xavier. Reluctantly the bishop of Providence let her go to this new mission field. Once again she w, as on the 246 ~epternber, 1955' MOTHER MARY XAVIER WARDE road for Christ. The situation she found in Manchester, where she made her headquarters, was somewhat similar to that in Rhode Island earlier. In July, 1854, the Know-Nothings had driven the Catholics from their homes, dragged the sick from their beds into the streets, de-stroyed the furniture, and proceeded to break the stained glass windows in St. Anne's church, then nearing completion. Only the peace-making spirit of the pastor, Father .McDonald, had kept the Catholics from retaliating. Under his wise direction, the spirit of prejudice abated, but not su~ciently for his parishioners to share his enthusiasm for introducing teaching nuns in the still bigoted city. It is only by seeing the sisters at work that they will learn to appreciate them, Father McDonald argued, and started to build a convent. Before it was half erected, a mob demolished it. He began again. This time he had it guarded night and day, himself sleeping there to prevent further damage. When it was ready, he asked the bishop for Sisters of Mercy. In this remarkable pastor, Mother Xavier met her equal in courage and devotion. From the day she met him, they worked together for Christ and His little ones. Beginning slowly, the sisters gradually fulfilled his prophecy that the citizenry would be con-vinced of the good they might do by seeing it done. One of their most important and most satisfactory works was the instruction of converts, a task to which Mother Xavier gave herself with tremendous zeal and prodigious success. A new type of work begun here was night schools for the children working in factories. In the autumn of 1858, in addition to the extensive free schools she had already established, Mother Xavier began an academy at Mr. St. Mary's, housed at first in the convent itself, and then in a separate school building. Unlike the first academy in Providence, there was no ani-mosity aroused by this structure. In fact, so completely had the sisters conquered the bigotry of Manchester that the city council, in 1860, permitted them to use a vacant public school in Father Mc- Donald's parish for a grammar school of their own. During the Civil War Mother Xavier and the sisters ,were gratified to receive numerous letters from their "boys" who were cared for by Sisters of Mercy in the. hospitals of the Union army. This was a work of Mercy to which Mot~her Xavier could not give herself. But a remarkable incident recorded by one of the sister-nurses shows how fa~ her silent example, even without words, had reached.One of the soldiers whom she nursed told her that he had been one of 247 SISTER MARY JULIAN BAIRD Reoiew for Religious the mob that intended to destroy the convent in Providence Wher'e Mother Xavier had boldly ~xposed herself to speak to the men in the garden who guarded the building. The sigh~ of her xrariquillity and courage had shamed him so that he left the scene even before the bishop spoke, went to a priest,, asked for instructions and baptism. "The sight of her," he said, "was a blessing." Foundations sent out during Mother Xavier's years in Man-chester were many: Philadelphia in 1861; Omaha, Nebraska, in 1864; Bangor, Maine, in 1865; Yreka, California, in 1871; Bur-lington,' Vermont, in 1872. The houses already~'opened flourished and made foundations of their own. Orphanages and hospitals and homes for the aged were added to their already extensive works of mercy. As the works increased, so did the number of girls entering the novitiates. Each foundation had its own novitiate, and was in-dependent of the mother house in most cases, a necessary circum-stance in the days of limited transportation and communication :fa-cilities. '~ Of considerable joy to Mother Xavier in 1878 was the sending of her sisters to Maine to work among the Indians. Their first convent was the wigwam of the chief of the tribe, who generously vacated it to accommodate the nuns. She visited them a few months later, to be welcomed ~on the banks of the river by a flotilla of Indian canoes. Probably for the first and last time in her life, Mother Xavier evinced fear. The canoes were of birch-bark, and very fragile in appearance. The chief invited her to enter his to cross to the other shore where the reservation was located. Mother Xavier looked. She took a small step: She hesitated. The swarthy face of the chief wrinkled in an understanding smile. With a wave of his hand he summoned a more sturdy-looking rowboat. With dignity Mother Xavier entered it and was rowed safely to the opposite bank, Characteristic of her was the remark she made on her way to the wigwam convent, with Indian children clinging to either hand and gifts of homemade baskets waved at her from eager Indians lined along the path. "Oh, how happy Mother McAuley Would have been to see this!" Her loyal' heart never let her forget the woman who had taught her mercy. In her speech she reverted so constantly to her teaching and example that the sisters who lived with her felt that they had a first-hand; personal knowledge of the foundress who had never set foot in AmeriCa. The Indian missions were the last to be directly founded by Mother Xavier. In the following year she was~shocked to learn of 248 September, 1955 M(~THER MARY XAVIER.WARDE the death of her blood-sister, Mother 3osephine Warde, whose death in Ireland robbed the Sisters of Mercy there of one of their greatest leaders. From this point on; ,Mother Xavier seemed old. Yet she was strong enough for the work of the day, always first i'n the chapel in the morning and busy daily with administrative duties. It did not seem possible to those who saw her activity that she could be the oldest Sister of Mercy in the world. In 1883 this fact was brought home to everyone by the national celebration of her golden jubilee.Every convent of the order joined in a novena for the American foundress. Invitations were issued to all connected with the Sisters of Mercy to be present at the day of celebration, January .24, at Mt. St. Mary's 'in Manchester. Of all the congratulations and gifts that poured in upon her that day, the one that Mother Xavier cherished most--and the only one that brought tears to her eyes--was a tribute of shamrocks from St. Patrick's grave sent to her by school children in Ireland, with verses that ended in the hope that Mother McAuley would bless her spir-itual daughter's festival "with her smile and her blessing from Heaven." The jubilee was really the ,beginning of the end for Mother Xavier. Her health failed perceptibly from that point on, but the loyalty of her sisters unanimously elected her again to be Mother Superior at Manchester. In spite of the practicality of that gesture, notes from a retreat she made immediately, after the election show that her mind was already in heaven. On August 12, 1883, she wrote: "May the Cross of Christ be about us! O good cross, that makes us rejoice in the Holy Will of God. Close to God, all is peace and contentment in Him. They tell me that I am growing strong again; they try to hope it is so, but I feel old age is here, and I realize that very soon I shall stand before His throne. Shall I be able to go on doing the little I have hitherto done? I do not know; but I put myself without reserve into God's hands. Let us pray and give ourselves up to the Divine Will." A singular happiness was reserved for these last days in the ap-pointment of Reverend Denis M. Bradley as the first bishop of Man-chester by Pope Leo XIII. As a child, the bishop-elect had recited his catechism to Mother Xavier and had received his First Com-munion from Father McDonald. With joy they had watched him prepare for the priesthood and ordination. Now the month ~f May was entirel~r &voted to preparations for his consecration. Mother Xavier's part was in supervising the making of vestments to be worn 249 SISTER MARY ,JULIAN BAIRD by her bishop. Before he began his retreat in Troy Seminary, he vis-ited her to beg her prayers. But on June 11, when he was consecrated, she ffas too ill to attend. His first visit after the church festivities were ended was to her poor little cell, for even in her last illness she re-fused the comfort of the infirmary. When her sight left her that 'summer, she asked the sisters to lead her to the chapel, where she spent endless hours in prayer. Im-potence to lead might have made her querulous, she who had always led. But her sense of humor did not fail her, and her gentle charm made it such a joy to care for her that the young nuns vied for the privilege. Especially devoted to her, and especially beloved, was Mary Agnes Warde, the grandchild of her brother John, who had entered the novitiate a few months before. She had the consolation of frequent visits from Bishop Bradley, and from her faithful friend and pastor, Father McDonald. To him she said one day,. with a half-whimsical, half-~vry smile: "My long and stormy life is at last coming to an end." God's stormy petrel was content now to rest. " To her sisters in the end she had no word but love. "God bless you and love you," she would say to them in her tired voice, and add with her characteristic personal touch, "eoery one.'" On the night of September 16 even her voice failed, and on the morning of the feast of the Stigmata of .St. Francis, she died while Mass was being said for her in the convent chapel. As was to be expected, her daughters "rose up at her side and called her blessed."' The key~note of the funeral was not sadness but joy in a life lived out for God alone. No pilgrimages are made in large bands to the simple grave with its simple marble stone in St. Joseph's Cemetery in Manchester. Even the writings about her community seem to overshadow her achievements with those of her friend and foundress, Mother Catherine McAuley. That is the way Mother Xavier would have liked it. But it is more honest to see her life as an extension of Mother McAuley's. To the ten short active years that her leader gave, Mother Xavier added her fifty full and vigorous ones. Complementing each other in character and temperament, they make together one achievement in the Church of Christ, recognizing that above all the works of God is His mercy. To Teaching Sisl:ers Pope Plus XII [EDITOR'S NOTE: This apostolic exhortation to the ~rst International Congress of Teaching Sisters was given on S~ptember 13, 1951. The following English translation, except for minor changes in capitalization and punctuation, appeared in the Catholic Mind, June, 1952, pp. 376-80. The original Italian text appeared in the Acta Apostolicae 8edis, 1951, pp. 738-44.] WE particularly welcome the occasion offered by your presence at the COngress of Teaching Sisters to express Our heartfelt and paternal praise for the activities of sisters in the school and in education both in Italy and throughout the Catholic world. How could the Church have fulfilled her mission of education and charity during these last few years, especially in the immediate past, without, the aid given by hundreds of thousands of sisters with so much zeal? How otherwise could the Church fulfill her mission today? No doubt, there are many other useful and energetic women work-ing with or beside nuns or dedicating themselves to the apostolate of the laity. We have in mind especially the good Catholic women teachers in the state schools. But they must r~ot wonder if, today, We turn to you, beloved daughters, gathered around Us as repre-sentatives of the religious orders and congregations devoted to the apostolate of the school and education. May the dedication, love, and sacrifices that more often tha~ not you bear in obscurity for the love of Christ and the benefit of young people bring forth fruit a hundredfold in the future as they did in the past. May our Lord reward you and shower upon you the abundance of His divine favors. We hope all the more fervently that this may be so because with you We are aware of the crisis through which your schools and educational institutions are passing. It is a question of the youth of today and convent schools. In your congress you have doubt-lessly had the opportunity of treating this subject fully. Many points concerning you no less than priests and brothers in religious orders have already been discussed by Us in Our address of De-cember 8, 1950. For this reason, We can confine Ourselves now to those aspects of your problem which, in Our opinion, need more consideration. I. Lack of Understanding If it be your painful experience that the teaching sis~ter and the 251 POPE PIUS XII Review [or Religious mgdern girl no longer understand each other, well, this is not a thing peculiar to you. Other teachers, often parents themselves, are not in a very much better position. It is not using empty wor.ds to say that young people have changed, become very different perhaps. The chief reason for this difference'in the young people of toda~r may be that which forms the subject of the frequent lament: young peoi31e are irreverent toward many things that formerly from child-hood were naturally regarded with the greatest respect. But young people of today are not solely to be blamed for their j~resent atti-tude. In childhood, they have lived through horrible things.and they have seen many ideals formerly held in high esteem fail and fail miserably before their eyes. F.or this reason they now mistrust and reject them. It must be remembered also that this complaint about lack of understanding is not something new. It is one made in every gener-ation; o and it is mutual between maturity and youth, parents and children, teachers and pupils. Half a century ago and even a little more, there was a good deal of sentimentality. People were fond of' believing that they were "misunderstood" and said so. Today,, the complaint, not devoid of a ce,rtain amount" of pride, is more con-cerned with the intellect. The result of this misunderstanding is, on the one hand, a reaction which may sometimes exceed the limit of justice, a tendency to repudiate anything that is, or. appears to be, new, an exaggerated suspicion of rebellion against any tradition. On the other hand, it is a lack of faith that shrinks from all authority and, spurning every competent judgment, seeks solutions and coun-sels with a s6rt of infatuation more ingenuous than reasoned. To try to reform young people and convince them by exacting submission, to persuade them by force', would be useless and not always right. YoB will induce them very much better to give you their trust if you, on your side, strive to understand them and to make them understand themselves--save always in the case of those immutable truths and values which admit of no change in the heart and mind of man. Understanding young people certainly does not mean approv-ing and admitting everything they" maintain in their ideas, their tastes, their caprices, their false enthusiasm. It consists fund_amentally in finding out ~hat is solid in them and accepting this trustfully without remorse or anger, in dis'covering the origin of their deviations and errors, which are often nothing but the unhappy attempt io solve real and difficult problems, and, finally, in following closely 252 September, 1955 TO ~EACHING SISTERS the vicissitudes and conditions of the present time. Making yourself understood does not mean adopting abuses, inaccuracies, confused ideas, modern expressions ambiguous in syn-tax, or the words' themselves. It rather means expressing clearly one's own thoughts in different yet always correct ways, striving to fathom_the thoughts of others, always keeping in mind their diffi-culties, their ignorance, and their inexperience. On the other hand, it is also true that young people of today are fully capable of appreciating true and genuine values. And it is preciseIy at this point that you must assume your responsibility. You must treat young people with the same simplicity and natural-ness you show among yourselves; you must treat them according to their character. At the same time, you must all show that spiritual seriousness and reserve which even the world of today expects from you, that spiritual seriousness and reserve through which it must sense your union with God. When you are with young, people, it is not necessary to speak continually of God. But when you do so, you must speak in a way to command their attention: with genuine feeling arising from profound conviction. In this-way, you will win the confidence of your pupils who. will then allow themselves to be persuaded and guided by you. II. The Reliqious Life And now We come to that which concerns you particularly: the religious life, your habit, the vow of chastity, your rules and constitutions. Do these render you less fit or downright incapable where the instruction and education of today's young people are concerned ? In the first place, We say that those who have the (primary) right in education, the parents, are not of this opinion. Sisters' schools are still sought after and preferred even by many people who care little or nothifig for religion. In 'many countries, vocations to the life of a teaching sister and the number of sisters' schools are much below the demand. 'This does not happen through mere chance. Therefore, we may add--and not only in regard to Italy but speaking in general--from those who have a part in drawing up school legislation, we must expect that determination for justice, that democratic sense, so to speak, which corresponds to the will of the parents, in such a way that the schools founded and directed by religious institutes be not placed in a worse condition than the 253 POPE PIUS XII R~oieto ¢or Religions state schools, and that they be given the freedom which is necessary for their development. And now, let us briefly discuss the religious life in itself. The religious habit: choose it in such a way that it becomes the. expres, sion of inward naturalness, of simplicity, and spiritual modest-y. Thus it will edify everyone, even modern young people. Chastity and virginity (which imply also the inner renunciation of all sensual affection) do not estrange souls from this world. They rather awaken and develop the energies needed for wider and higher offices beyond the limits of individual families. Today there are many. teaching and nursing sisters who, in the best sense of the word, are nearer to life than the average person in the world. Followed in letter and spirit, your constitutions, too, facilitate and bring the sister all she fieeds and must do in our time to be a good teacher and educator. This also applies to purely mechanical matters. In many countries today, for example, even sisters use bicycles when their work demands it. At first this was something entirely new, though not against the Rule. It is possible that some details of the school schedules, certain regulations--simple applica-tions of the Rule-~certain customs which were, perhaps, in harmony with past conditions but which today merely hinder educational work, must be adapted to new circumstances. Let superiors and the general chapters proceed in this matter conscientiously, with foresight, pruddnce, and courage: and, where the case demands, let them not fail to submit the proposed changes to the competent ec.: clesiastical authorities. You wish to serve the cause of Jesus Christ and of His Church in the way the world of today demands. Therefore; it would not be reasonable to persist in customs and forms that hinder this service or perhaps render it impossible. Sisters who are teachers and edu-cators must be so ready and so up to the level of their office, they must be so well versed in all with which young people are in con-tact, in all which influences them, that their pupils will not hesitate to say: "We can approach the sister with our problems and difficul-ties: she understands and helps us." IlL Tile Scfiool and Education In this way, We come now to the needs of the school and educa-tion, which We particularly wish to recommend to your care. Many of your schools are being described and praised to Us as 254 September, 1955 TO TEACHING-SISTERS being very good. But not all. It is Our fervent wish that all endeavor to become excellent. This presupposes that your teaching sisters are masters of the subjects they expound. See to it, therefore, that they are well trained and that their education corresponds in quality and academic.degrees to that demanded by the state. Be generous in giving them all they need, especially where books are concerned, so that they may con-tinue. their studies and thus offer young people a rich and solid har-vest of knowledge. This is in keeping with the Catholic idea, which gratefully welcomes all that is naturally good, beautiful, and true, because it is an image of the divine goodness and beauty and truth. Most parents entrust their daughters to you because their con-sciences bid them to do so. But this does not mean that the children should suffer by receiving in your schools an education of inferior value. On the contrary, you must do all you can to assure parents that their children are getting the best education right from the elementary classes. And then, do not forget that knowledge and good teaching win the respect and consideration of the pupils for the teaching sister. Thus she can exercise a greater influence on their character and their spiritual life. In this respect, there is no need for us to repeat that which you know well, that which has certainly been the object of ample dis-cussion during your Congress. According to the Catholic concept, the object of the school and of education is the formation of the perfect Christian, that is--to apply this principle to yo.ur conditions --to exercise such spiritual and moral influence and to so accustom girls and young women that when they are left to themselves they will remain firm in their faith as Catholics and put this faith into daily practice. At least, there must be the well-founded hope that the pupil will later on lead her life according to the principles and rules of her faith. Your entire school and educational system would be useless were this object not the central point of your labor. Our Lord wants you to strive toward this aim with all your strength. He has called you to the vocation of educating girls and making them perfect Christians. In this He demands your complete dedication, and one day He will ask you to render an account. The modern girl! You can measure better than many others the still unsolved problems and the grave dangers resulting from recent 255 POPE PIUS XII changes in the woman's world from her sudden introduction into all walks of public life. Was there ever such a time as the present, when a girl has to be won and trained interiorly, according to her con-victions and will, for Christ's cause and a virtuous life, remaining faithful to both despite all temptations and obstacles, beginning with modesty in dress anal ending with the most serious and anguishing problems of life? Let it never happen th'at material advantages, personal authority, wealtb, political power, or similar considerations induce you to re-nounce your educational ideals and betray your vocation! An ex-amination of conscience during your Congress may have salutary ef-fects. This paternal exhortation is motivated solely by Our benevo-lence for you, because your cares are Ours also, your Bappy success is Ours, too. In obtaining favorable results, harmony and generous accord between the different religious families can play a big part. Mutual knowledge and enco,uragement, holy emulation can be put to your mutual advantage. The most encouraging steps have already been taken in this respect. All you have to do is to continue them. Like Christian education in general, which today is not an oh-' jective easily to be achieved, your mission is not an easy one. But regarding the inner formation of the young girl, your religious vocation is a powerful ally. Living faith, union with God, the love o]~ Christ, with which each of you has had the chance to fill herself in the spirit of the congregation from the first day of the novitiate, the vow, not only of chastity, but especially that of obedience, a common task under one guidance in the same direction'---all these t, hings act strongly on young minds, always supposing, of course, that you live up to your vocation. May divine Providence direct and lead you in all that you pro-pose and undertake. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ fill your minds and hearts. May the Blessed Virgin, Mary our Mother, be your model, protectress, and advocate. Together with the ex-pression of these wishes, We most cordially impart Our Apostolic Blessing to you, beloved sisters, and to all the young people en-trusted to your care. 256 The Dedica :ed Lit:e and Secular Insti :u :es Francis N. Korth, S.J. THE BREVOORT HOTEL in Chicago's busy downtown Loop "was the scene of a recent, inspiring two-day conference on "The Dedicated Life in the World and Secular Institutes." The dates were February 19 and 20, 1955. ("Dedicated life in the world" as distinguished from membership in a secular institute means that the individual is living in the world and has truly,dedi-cated his life at least by a private perpetual vow or promise of per-fect cbastlty or celibacy.) Conference participants, those who came to impart information and to lead discussions, a~ well as those who came pri'marily to listen, to gain knowledge and inspiration--these various people came from points along .both coasts, from the south and from the north and from places in between, and from Canada. For purposes of concentrated effort, the number invited was .ke.p.t small. Some twenty-five priests and about seventy lay persons (mostly women) were on hand for the openifig session on Saturday morning, February 19. Father Joseph E. Haley, C.S.C., of Notre Dame University, welcomed the group and then gave a very con-densed historical r~sum~ of general trends in a dedicated life through-out the centuries up to present-day secular institutes. Then a number of reports were made about organizations that actually are secular in.stitutes, abou't some that are developing along the lines of possibly becoming secular institutes, and about other groups that are interested in a special manner in a dedicated life in the world. Some highlights follow. Opus De[ has been blessed with American vocations; another house will. be opened; besides persons in professional fields, clerical workers, farmers, and others are being accepted. The Missionaries of the Kingship of Christ, though small in number in this country, have experienced a gratifying increase in vocations. The Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary of the Catholic Apostolate have intern and extern members in the United States; they give lectures, publish some no-vena booklets and pamphlets; a booklet entitled Euergdag 8anctitg is;to be released soon. The constitutions of tl~e Daughters of St. Catherine of Siena are in Rome awaiting approval; the American 257 FRANCIS N. KORTH Reoiew for Religious novitiate is currently ~in Montreal, Canada; most members are be-tween the ages of twenty-one and forty-five, are single or widows. A little leaflet of the Pro Deo Workers of Cincinnati mentions that they are engaged in various works of the apostolate, that they have no official status as yet. The Daughters of Our Lady of Fatima in Lansdowne, Pa., as their attractive leaflet Spiritual "Scrabble" tells us, stimulate interest in, and take part in, varied parish activities, such as census-taking, instructing converts, visiting the sick, bus driving, church music and art. A new companion-group, the Sons of Our Lady of Fatima, ~is beginning to function along similar lines. A small but active group in New Orleans, known as Caritas, has as its purpose to help develop Christian life in parishes, particularly in poor ones; summer camps and long weekends are especially devoted to helping young people; liturgy and arts are stressed to cultivate an appreciation of the real beauty in things; parish census work is be-ing done. To work in missionary lands and to stir up interest in the mis-sions elsewhere is the special purpose of the International Catholic Auxiliaries (women); membership is about two hundred with fif-teen nationalities represented; the group was founded in Belgium about twenty years ago and now has two centers in Chicago. The Rural Parish Workers of Christ the King, while still small in num-bers, are doing fine work in a poor rural district in eastern Missouri. In Canada the Oblate Missionaries of the Immaculate (women), founded about three years ago, already have over three hundred members; there is a recent foundation in Chile, and some members are also in this country (at Lowell, Massachusetts) ; they undertake whatever work the local ordinary desires; nurses, teachers, social workers are among their numbers. From New York word comes that the Campaigners for Christ are busily engaged in explaining the faith (on street corners and in other places) and in h~lping the poor. The Union Caritas Christi, founded in France, has s~read to several other countries, and now-has some members in New York City; the members (women) come from various walks in life; their specific work in helping souls is determined by talent and circumstances. The house in Chicago of the Work of the Sacred Heart is connected with an organization established in the archdiocese of Lucca, Italy; devotion to the Sacred Heart is stressed; Italian immigrants are helped. In New Jeisey a parish group is forming, based upon the spirituality of St. Francis' de Sales; various apostolic activities are 258 September, 1955 SECULAR INSTITUTES undertaken. A member of the Company of St. Paul is currently par-ticipating in the apostolate of Christian art and movies. Friendship House in Canada undertakes varied work in the field of the social apostolate as indicated by the hierarchy. So much for the brief re-ports. " Of the above groups the following five are secular institutes: Opus Dei, the Missionaries of the Kingship of Christ, the Scboen-start Sisters of Mary of the Catholic Apostolate, the Company of St. Paul, and the Union Caritas Christi. The first four are insti-tutes of pontifical right (Schoenstatt Sisters are not listed in current Annuario Ponti[icio) : the fifth is an institute of diocesan right. The first session of Saturday afternoon was devoted to an en-lightening and stimulating presentation of the "Requisites for the Dedicated Life in the World and for ,Approval of Secular Institutes." The speaker was Father Andr~ L. Guay, O.M.I., Director of the Catholic Centre at the University of Ottawa in Canada. During the question period that followed, Father Guay solved problems and difficulties in competent fashion. The second session that afternoon was given over t'o a panel of three speakers. The three panel mem-bers, in the order of their appearance, and their topics were: Miss Bertha Mugrauer of Caritas in New Orleans and professor of soci-ology at Xavier University in the same city--"Social Action in American Life"; Mr. Vincent Giese of Fides Publishers in Chicago --"Professional Apostolate": Miss Violet Nevile of the Interna-tional Catholic Auxiliaries in Chicago--"Foreign Missions." After the three interesting papers were given, the audience had an opportu-nity to direct comment or questions to any of the three speakers. Saturday evening a number of optional workshops were held; lively discussions made the time pass quickly. At ten o'clock Sunday morning, two-minute reports were given on each of the workshops held the previous evening. Then Father Francis :Wendell, O:P., of New York spoke in an inspiring manner on "The Spirituality of the Dedicated Apostle in the World." Dis-cussion followed. The closing session in the early afternoon treated the general theme of "Channels of the Dedicated Life in' the World." The breakdown of this general theme resulted in three informative papers: "The Parish as the Living Community of Worship and Apostolate," ably presented by Father Robert Carroll of Chicago; the fine treatment of "The Third Order Secular as a School of Christian Perfection" by Father Stephen Hartdegen, O.F.M. of 259 FRANCIS N. KORTH Washington, D.C.; and a capable discussion by Mr. David O'Shea of YCW Headquarters in Chicago of "The Lay Apostolate Giving Christ to the World." Everyone privileged to attend felt that the two days had been time spent very well indeed. Currently, regional conferences are being stressed. Other Items of Interest about Secular Institutes 1) Father Leo Neudecker, pastor of the Immaculate Conception parish in Kellogg, Minnesota (35 miles northeast ofRochester) held his sixth annual Lay Apostolate Week, July 3-9, at Kellogg. Father Nicholas Maestrini, a former Chinese missionary of twenty years ex-perience, was guest speaker. A gratifying number of young women, many of them nurses or teachers, attended. The Lay Apostolate Week is a week of prayer and instruction; much time is given to the study of secular institutes; each day centers around the liturgy. 2) The Union of Catechists of the Holy Crucifix and of Mary Im-maculate is a secular institute affiliated with the Brothers of the Christiar~ Schools. Its headquarters are in Turin., Italy, where it was established as a secular institute ot~ diocesan right on June 24, 1948. Members teach catechism and spread devotion to the Five Wounds of Jesus Crucified. The lay catechists (members) 'live either with their own families or in community "houses of charity;" 3) The Annuario Pontit~cio for 1955 lists the following eleven secular institutes of pontifical right. Four for men (pages 863-64) : Company of St. Paul (originated in Italy) ; Opus Dei (originated in Spain); the Priest Workers of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Spain); and the Society of the Heart of Jesus (Fraiice). For women seven such secular institutes are gi;cen (page 1283) : the Daughters of the Queen of the Apostles (Trent); the Teresian Institute (Madrid); the Missionaries of the Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ (Milan) ; the Institute of Our Lady of Work (Paris) ; the Women's Section of Opus Dei (Madrid) ; the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Way (Vienna); and the Missionaries of the Sick (Cremona). The last two institutes just mentioned for women were added to the list in the 1954 edition of the Annuario Pontit~cio; no new ones are listed in the 1955 edition. Of the institutes of pontifical right for men, no new ones have been .listed in either the 1954 or 1955 edi-~ tions of the Annuario. 26O A Ra!:ional Approach !:o Int:ellec!:ual Obedience Augustine G. Ellard, S.3. INTELLECTUAL obedience seems to be a perpetual thorn in the side of many good religious people. They are constantly being urged to practice it: they feel that they should; they keep on try-ing to achieve that aim; but~also they are always failing and hence experiencing dissatisfaction. Upon reflection they notice that their difficulties are not only practical and ~motional, as with most other arduous virtues, 'but also conceptual. They hav~ not succeeded in working out a satisfactory concept of the ideal itself of intellectual obedience. We migh't consider three cases. First, let us suppose that Father Provincial directs Father Rector to proceed to the erection of a new building for the instituti6n that he is in charge of: Father Rector sees the desirability of it; the money is available; every consideration appears to be in favor of going on with the project; and so, easily enough, he agrees in judgment with his superior. Thus far there is no difficult.y. The propriety of the step prop6sed is obvious to both men. Imagine another situation. Brother Infirmarian is told by Father Superior, whose excellence does not extend to a knowledge of nurs-ing, to do this or that for a sick brother whose condition, in Brother Infirmarian's view, calls for just the contrary. Respectfully he re-monstrates with Father, but to no avail. Father persists in his order. Brother Infirmarian reconsiders the whole matter and in particular weighs all that he can think of from Father's point of view. But the more he reflects, the more firmly he feels convinced that his first judg-ment was right. It is evident from the principles of good nursing that the patient should not be treated in the way that Father wishes. Brother comes to the conclusion that Father, however admirable and wise in general, is wrong in this matter. Nobody would quarrel with him. Those who most advocate obedience of judgment allow an inferior to consider an order ill-advised when it is quite evidently imprudent. ' Consider a third case. Father Rector instructs'Father Subject to found, say, a retreat house on,the south side of a large city. Father Subject's opinion is that the appropriate place is the north side. With 261 AUGUSTINE G. ELLARD Reoiew for Religious due deference he explains his reasons to Father Superior. He does whatever he can within the limits of propriety to persuade Father Rector to agree with him. But he fails. Let us suppose that the judgments of each of the two men are not categorical and absolute, but take the form of more probable pronouncements. Now Father Subject is an obedient man; and, mindful of all the admonitions to think with one's appointed guide, he carefully reconsiders the whole question, from all angleS, utilizing every source of information, and duly allowing for all known contingencies. At last he concludes that, if he is to be honest with the truth as it presents itself to him and to his own intelligence, he must abide by his previous judgment. Here, therefore, we have an instance in which there is no perfectly clear right or wrong, but room for legitimate difference of opinion. The two men take contrary views of the likely place for the retreat house. What seems more likely to the one man seems less likely to the other. This is the typical situation in which in the mind of one trying to practice ideal obedience painful conflict can arise. Should Father Subject, disregarding his own insights, by fiat of his will, as-sert to himself, "After all, conditions seem to suggest that, as Father Rector thinks, the house should be on the south side"? This pro-cedure, judging not in ac~cordance with what seems to be the truth, but by a chqice of the will, is just what much that is written on in-tellectual obedience appears to call for. It is submitted that a more rational approach to the problem of obedience of the mind is to conceive it as the disposition to see and acknouJledge the truth in as much as it is fauo.rable to the superior or his command. One might add--though surely this should be ob-vious and taken for granted--"and in so far as it is knowable to the subject". A subject cannot reasonably argue for less. It is, of course, true that practically and emotionally there may be the most vehe-ment objections to seeing the truth as it favors, say, a very unwel-come order. But rationally, without contradicting oneself, one can-not plead against the truth. To kno~; and possess the truth is in accordance with our nature as intelligent beings, becomes it, and in fact pertains to its essential development and perfection. It is par-ticularly fitting that we come to know and acknowledge the truths that are relevant to us. Evidently such are the truths that we'are referring to: those that concern one's superior and his directions for oneself. Thus, very obviously, it is only right and reasonable thal: ~a man should see and acknowledge whatever is true in the matter of. one's own authoritative guide and his guidance for us. It may be 262 September, 1955 INTELLECTUAL OBEDIENCE practical too. A soldier whose trust in his captain does not measure up to the truth available to him might ~ell lose his life, and the same could happen to a patient with respect to his doctor. On the other hand, superiors cannot ask for more. To affirm more would be tantamount to uttering a falsehood or at least to be-ing presumptuous, affirming what we do not know. Nor can those who 'give us spiritual conferences and exhortations urge us to do more. One may object that we should conclude that what has been commanded has been well commanded. We could learn truth from the command itself. To a certain but very variable extent this con-tention is correct. Those chosen to exercise authority are wont to be persons of more than average ability, judgment, and good character. Superiors have a better knowledge of the total situation in which the order has been given and is to be executed. Often enough they have secret or" confidential information that is not available to the subject. These and possibly other reasons can very often justify one in argu-ing that what was ordered was wisely ordered. Almost always they have some evidential value and thus increase the probabilities in the superior's favor. The obedient man will do his best to see and ap-preciate their full force. But those indications do not simply and necessarily lead to the conclusion that the superior's command was well advised. Nobody, as far as I know, goes so" far as to maintain expressly that they do; oftentimes, however, that seems to be implied or suggested. No one would dare say that superiors are infallible and never make mistakes. The utterances and warnings of higher super-iors exist in abundance to prove the contrary for lower superiors, and the verdicts of historians for the errors of higher superiors. Everybody knows that human beings have a strong tendency to judge rather in accordance with their emotions, their likes and dis-likes, their prejudices and passions, than in the cool light of reason. This unfortunate propensity is. an excellent example of emotional thinking, of letting one's judgments be guided by feeling or im-pulse instead of the evidence. This weakness of human nature con-stantly runs counter to obedience. Hence one who is striving to be-come a perf.ectly obedient man will of course have these facts in mind and allow for them. He will do his best to keep his judgment as obj/ctive and correct as possible. One of his supreme aims will be precisely to hold reason and genuine love for the truth dominant in all his judging and willing. In very many daily practical matters the best judgments that ate humanly possible are probable rather than certain. Hence a .disagree- 263 AUGUSTINE G. ELLARD Review for Religious merit between a superior' and an inferior in such cases would natur-ally .take the form of "more probable" versus "less probable"; that is, what seems more probable to the superior seems less probable to the inferior and conversely. Thus Father Rector in our third ex-ample, decided, As I see things, we ought to build that retreat house on the south side of the city; and Father Subject, who was commis~ sioned to do it, thought, No; my opinion is that the north side is the place for it. The important point to notice here is that probable judgments, carefully made, are true and unchangeable, though of course not in the same way or so simply as' certain judgments. When "carefully made" they correspond to the incomplete evidence or reasons for judging insofar as these are open to the person forming his opinion at the time. Let me illustrate from what I shall call analogies rather than examples. Suppose that six men out of ten are to be chosen by lot for some dangerous mission. Then the odds are six to four that any particular one of the ten will be taken. No act of anybody's will can alter that likelihood. Only a fool would try to think otherwise; and, if he did, he would be virtually lying to" himself. Suppose another case, less precise and closer to what occurs in practical matters. One bears that a friend is very seriously ill with pneumonia and spontaneously concludes .that perhaps he will die. But that would be very much against his wishes, and so voluntarily he chooses to judge, because after all it is not evident that the patient will die, He will not die. Such thinking would be irrational and self-deceptive~ Thus probable judgments critically and considerately made cannot reasonably be changed by mere fiat of the will. Only some new disclosure of the truth or a better grasp of it justifies a new conclusion. One might as well determine the truth in matters of fact by flipping a coin. He who judges what he pleases is ~ollowing a blind faculty. Hence~ if all things considered, it seems that a giyen order is less probably the prudent one, no juggling of one's mind by one's will can make it really more probable. A person whose ideal of intellectual obedience is to agree with the mind of his superior insofar as his perception of the truth permits will avoid many of the difficulties experienced by those who attempt by sheer force of will to embrace the opinion of their superior. He need no( feel conscious of being disloyal to th~ truth. He will not try to argue with himself that whatever is ordered is wisely ordered. He will not cultivate "wishful thinking," determining what is judged true by an act of will. He can fall back upon the universal criterion of truth, namely, the objective evidence in the case. His 264 September, 1955 INTELLECTUAL OBEDIENCE judgments, certain or probable, will corr.espond exactly to that evi-dence. He will not appear obliged to do violence to his rational na-ture. He will not endeavor, as it were, to lie to himself, affirming to be true what is really against his mind. He will not have to change his principles when he gets a new superior. Some may object that St. Ignatius, in his celebrated Epistle on Obedience, seems to require~more in the way of intellectual submis-sion than is here proposed. At first sight and according to the strict letter of the text, that is correct. However, in interpreting him, we can and should be guided by a.principle that he himself uses in the Spiritual Exercises. When be presents for contemplation an appari-tion of Christ that is not recorded in the Gospels, namely, the very first one, made to the Virgin Mary, he writes, "Scripture supposes that we have understanding, as it is written, 'Are you also without understanding?' " (Puhl's translation, No. 299). What he says on obedience is to be understood, in accordance with the fundamental laws of reason. Therefgre, if one looks to the ultimate mind and in-tention- of the author .rather than to the precise form of his words, one would hardly interpret him as exhorting people, to go beyond the truth or beyond what they know of the truth. Beyond the truth there is nothing but falsehood, and to assert, even to oneself, more than one knows of the truth is at best to be presumptuous. Hence St. Ignatius's wqrds cannot rightly be taken to mean more than that to be perfect in obedience of judgment is wholeheartedly to acknow-ledge all the truth that favors the superior or his command. "All the truth" includes every truth that is relevant, though that relevance be very indirect or remote. The abnegation of judgment which St. Ignatius advocates in matters of obedience consists, not in affirming what is false or unknown, but in so controlling one's likes and dislikes that they will help, rather than hinder, in bringing about the maximum amount of truth in one's mind. As St. Paul wrote long ago to the Corinthians: "For we cannot do anything against the truth, but everything must be for the truth" (II Cor. 12 : 8 ; Spencer's version). It was St. Ignatius's idea that through intellectual obedience we should come to ever greater and greater harmony with the supreme rule of every good jffdgment and will, that is, with the eternal Goodness and Wisdom. The more thorough-going that harmony between our minds now and God's, the keener .and more beatific will be our vision of Infinite Truth in heaven. ¯ 265 ommun cat: ons [NOTE: Since the following communications were unavoidably held over for a long time, it seems necessary to say a word about their background. The first refers to an article by Father Gallen in our May, 1954, number. One of the main points in this article was to stress the need of reducing the frequently excessive number of community devotions. Another important point made in Father Gallen's article was that retreats do not produce the fruit they should because proper provision is not made for th~ retreatants to meditate: they simply listen to conferences. A follow-up on this was a letter from a sister, punished in September, 1954, which suggested: "If these points are to retain their purpose of preparation for mental pra~jer, twenty minutes or half an hour would not seem to be an unreasonable limit, with the explicit injunction that the retreatants continue the meditation themselves, al-though not necessarily remaining in the chapel to do so." The second communi-cation given here refers to this suggestion. --ED.] Reverend Fathers: At our summer school were different orders of sisters. Father Gallen's article, "Pray Reasonably," was much discussed and appre-ciated- and it did much good. In our case, for example, many of the novenas, daily litanies, and extra devotions have been shortened or eliminated. Part of our class preparation formerly had been used for these extras, and added to this were cooking, washing, house cleanin'g, etc. It was a real strain to get a quantity of prayers said. All agree that at last they get satisfaction from saying a reasonable number of prayers well and with real devotion. Many thanks to Father GaIlen. A number of sisters have expressed the wish that he would give them an article, "Dress Reasonably." -~A SISTER. Reverend Fathers: I disagree with the sister who wrote that "twenty minutes or half an hour would not seem to be an unreasonable limit" for points during retreat. I made. one retreat in whi[h the priest never talked over twenty minutes, and I was so weary I thought I would die be-fore the eight days were over. What in the world does the sister do with the time between the conferences if she isn't meditating then? Personally, I like the priest to talk about forty minutes or so. -~ SISTER. OUR CONTRIBUTORS AUGUSTINE ELLARD and FRANCIS N. KORTH are members of our editorial board. SISTER MARY JULIAN BAIRD, of the Scranton Province of the Sisters of Mercy of the Union, is in the English Department of Mount Aloy-sius Junior College, Cresson, Pa. 266 [All material for this department should be addressed to: Book Review Editor, REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, West Baden College, West Baden Springs, Indiana.] THI: PSALMS IN RHYTHMIC PROSI:. Translafed by dames A. Klels÷, S.d., Ph.D., and Thomas d. kynam, S.J. Pp. 236. The Bruce Publishing Company, Milwaukee I, Wis. 1954. $4.00. No one whose eye falls upon this new translation of the Psalms will be otherwise than favorably impressed by the attractive binding, the legible typography, the useful index of "titles,': the preliminary outlines for each Psalm, and the brief explanatory footnotes. But some will ask a legitimate question: Why another trans-lation of the Psalms? Father Lynam answers that question quite clearly in his preface. The translation was projected as a labor of love by the. late Father Kleist, who asked Father Lynam's coopera-tion. The translators set for themselves a comparatively simple aim: to turn the Psalms of the new authorized Latin version into English prose, making "a borrowing from poetry" to the extent of intro-ducing into the prose "a stress, a rhythm." The basic stress ulti-mately chosen was the iambic. Granted the legitimacy of such a purpose, the success of the translation can be justly measured only by the standard that the translators have set for themselves. There can be no doubt that they have succeeded in producing a consistently rhythmic version, predominantly iambic. That they have in many instances tran-scended their self-imposed limits and achieved true poetry is all to the good. One has only praise, too, for the fact that the English is modern in many respects. The consistent substitution of "You" for the traditional "Thou" is a simple but notably.effective device that makes not only for modernity but for the impression of that familiarity with God that characterizes prayer. The only respect in which the translators seem to have fallen below their own stan-dards is that they have occasionally allowed themselves to be forced into violent inversions in their attempt to preserve the iambic stress. One may be tempted to quarrel with such expressions as "mob-bish turbulence," 'heaven's marge," "lave his feet in sinners' gore," "in their joy they jubilate," "Immersed I am in abysmal mire," "As 'twere a prodigy I have appeared to many," "A subject of dispute you made us 'mongst our neighbors," "Well for the people skilled in holding jubilee," "My sire are you, my God, the bedrock of my 267 BOOK REVIEWS Retqew ,/:or Religious weal." The phraseology, of this sampling is not the phraseology of m6d~rn"prose. (Nor, one m~ay add, of modern poetry.) One would not complain of such archaism if it were not for the fact that the publishers' jacket makes claims for the modernity~ of the Kleist- Lynam version that the translators do not make. Despite such occasional infelicities of expression. (fewer and less annoying than thos~ that are to be found in the ordinary man-ual of devotions), The Psalms in Rhythmic Prose will serve as a fine prayer-book for the layman who would model his prayer upon the official prayer of the Church. It will also be a welcome companion volume to the Latin Breviary of the English-speaking priest or re-ligious.-- PATRICK J. RICE, S.J. MARIOLOGY. Volume I. Edi÷ed by Juniper B. Carol, O.F.M. Pp. 434. The Bruce Publishing Company, Milwaukee I, Wis. '1954. $6.75. This book could hardly have been written by one man. For the sweep and depth of treatment of the whole field of Mariology could have been achieved with the excellence of scholarship con-tained in this book only by a group of scholars working under an editor with the thorough-going competence and courage of a Father Juniper Carol. We have in Mariolog~/ the first of a three-volu'me series which will take its place alongside, the Marian symposia of Strater, du Manoir, and Roschini. : Mariology is that part of theology which attempts to ~ain some. understanding of the Marian mysteries. But this understanding must take place by insight into the data of revelation as given in its two-fold source: Scripture and tradition. This first volume of Mariology consists in a culling of Scripture and the various records of the Church's tradition in a search for all the relevant Marian evidence. The ~econd volume in the series will contain a grgup of essays deal-ing with Marian theology as such; the third will trace the effect. of Marian creed and cult in the devotional life of the Church. The opening article by Eamon R. Carroll, O.Carm., has com-pressed within fifty pages an extraordinarily rich selection of the Church's pronouncements on Mary, organ, ized under~ eight titles: Mother of God, Ever Virgin, Full of Grace, Immaculate, Assumed into Heaven, Mediatrix with the Mediator, Spiritual Mother, and Queen. Fathers Erk May, O.F.M., and M. J. Gruenthaner, S.J., turn to the pages of the Old and New Testaments respectively to present what God has written about His Mother. Both of these studies are 268 September, 1955" BOOK REVIEW8 characterized by a care and a balance not always present in a dis-cussion of Marian Scriptural texts. The article by A. C. Rush, C.SS.R., supplements these two scriptural studies by reviewing the testimonies of the early Christian faithful for Mary as found in the New Testament apochryphal writings. Three articles follow which open up the vast and complex records of patristic and liturgical literature on Mary: Mary in Western patristic thpught and in the Eastern and Western liturgies. The article by Father Burghardt on the Latin Fathers is not only an outstanding piece of research in its thoroughness of treatment and brilliance of interpretation, but also in its tight organization and excellence of style. G. W. Shea has continued the investigation of the history of Mariology through the medieval, modern, and contemporary periods. He shows how active the writers of the Church have been since the close of the Patristic Age in deepening and expanding our under-standing of the Marian mysteries. Because the long article on the Mariology of the Eastern Fathers was not available in time for publication in this first volume, its place has been given to two shorter Mariological studies of the Im-maculate Conception and Mary's immunity from actual sin, which, in content, rightly belong in the forthcoming second volume. But if these two studies are an indication of the quality of the second volume, we can be sure that it will attain the high standards "of scholarship and readability achieved in the first. The book closes with a short history of the name of Mary by R. Kugelman, C.P., who concludes that the weight of evidence seems to favor the meaning of the name Mary as "Highness" or "Exalted One." The book with its copious notes and references is a mine of information on our Lad;, which priests, religious, theological stu-dents, and educated Catholic laymen will be tapping for a good many decades to come. --MICHAEL MONTAGUE, S.J. A HISTORY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. Volume VII. Period of ÷he French Revolu÷ion (1775-1823). By Fernand Mourre÷, S.S~ Trans-lated by Newton Thompson, S.T.D. Pp. 608. B. Herder Book Com-pany, St. Louis 2, Mo. 1954. $9.75. The average American looks upon the French Revolution merely as a Gallican edition of the American fight for independence, In the political sense this opinion comes close to the truth, for as the 269 BOOK REVIEWS Review for Religious, colonial patriots threw off the rule of George III, so the French lib-erals and rationalists overturned and then completely ~estroyed the monarchy of Louis XVI. The French Revolution, however, dif-fered greatly from that in America ii~ its organized hatred of re-ligion, especially that of the Catholic Church. The seventh volume of Father Mourret's fine work on the His-tory of the Catholic Church gives a scholarly, treatment to this phase of the French Revolution. The book is divided into three parts. In order to give his reader a better understanding of the ecclesi-astical side of the Revolution,, Father 1VIourret.treats, under the title "Decline of the Ancient Regime," the political, social and intellectual status of France and of Europe from 177,5 until the beginning of the Revolution. Part two deals with the Revolution itself. This section of the .book is the most scholar!y of the three and descends to minute par-ticulars. A general knowledge of the political history of the French Revolution is a "must" if the reader is to understand the various sessions of the French assembly that methodically did away with religion in France and deified "reason" to take the place of God. The Civil Constitution of the Clergy is completely discussed, and the plight of the. jurors and non-jurors among the clergy is well de-scribed. Father Mourret has used his documents well in picturing the suffering and complete disruption of ecclesiastical life in France. For the ordinary reader the third section of the book, "~Fhe Religigus Restoration," will prove the most understandable and interesting. Napoleon and Plus VII wire both powerful characters. Their duel of wit, will power, and principle is boldly and graphically told. The entire history of the famous Concordat of 1801'is clearly explained. An appendix has the entire text of the concordat. Father Thompson has done a fine job of translating. The foot-notes are excellent; the bibliography is extensive and should help the research student. There is also a fine index that will save the interested seeker much time. The book is primarily for the scholar~ but the third part can be profitably used by anyone who has a high school knowledge of French history. Although the price is rather high, this book could profitably b'e put in the Church History sec-tion of any seminary or college library.-~JOHN W. CHRISTIAN, S.J. SAINT IGNATIUS' :IDEA OF A JESUIT UNIVERSITY. By George E. Ganss, S.J. Pp. 368. Marqueffe Universify Press, Milwaukee 3, Wis. Ss.so. With a ~hrewd eye to modern university problems and applica~ 270 September, 1933 BOOK REVIEWS tions, Father Ganss, director of Classical La.nguages at Marquette Universityl has written a brave historical analysis of St. Ignatius Loyola's root principles of higher education. Analyzing Ignatius' view of Renaissance university, its functional relation to the social-cultural environment, and Part Four of the Jesuit Const"lt "u t"~on (On Education), Father Ganss outlines the purposes, ideals, and pro-cedures of Ignatian higher education--at least as had in the sixteenth and seventeenth century. The burden of the work is, bo~vever, to isolate perennial principles from passing procedures in the historical picture of Ignatius' universities. Besides terminology clarifications (e.g. the sixteenth-century meaning of college, arts, uni~ersit~l, etc., contrasted with our own) there seem to be three difficulties in a work of this kind. St. Ignatius himself, the master of adaptation to circumstance, presents a problem to one siftirig his educational writings for their spirit. One could get the impression from uncareful reading that there simply ar3 no real guiding principles beyond that of a clear goal and absolute freedom of means in attaining it. Again, the social-economic environment for which the early Jesuit educators were preparing their students presents the second problem. Time after time Father Ganss separates what is rooted in the Ignatiar~ spirit from what pertains to the Ignatian times. Thus speaking, reading, and writing Latin might seem an educational must in the Constitutions, but this prescription is cIarified by the realization that Latin was still the exclusive language of the universities and "opened the way to the choicest positions in state or' commerce or Church." Thirdly, the Constitution itself, admittedly the foremost source for Father Ganss, contains much practical procedure that must be sifted to find the primary principles of the~ Ignatian educational spirit. Beginning then with a historical study of the universities as Ignatius saw them in l~is own education, and progressing through the gradual acceptance of colleges and universities by the Society of Jesus, Father Ganss sbow~ how ignatius drew up his principles .of an orderly development in learning, following the self-activity prac-tices of the Un, iversity of Paris and substituting the Summa Theolo-giae for the Sentences of Peter Lombard as the prime text for study-ing theology. In the second part the author points up the relation between Ignatius' universities and the socio-cultural life of the times. The humanist educational ideal which was then reaching its peak was inculcated by Ignatius and applied to the natural and super- 271 BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS Reoiew t:or Religiod~ natural life aims of his education. He insisted, however, on £eeping theology and philosophy as the most ~important branches of study. In Chapter nine of the third part of his book, Father Gauss sums up fifteen clear principles of Ignatian education. In this chapter he has gi~ven modern Jesuits, especially American Jesuits, the structure on which to build the methods and adaptations for our universities today while preserving what is truly the Jesuit spirit of education. Any review of this thorough and scholarly book would be in-complete without mention of the Appendix called "A Historical Sketch of the Teaching of Latin." This brief study of the use of the Latin Language as a means of education is well worth the price of the entire book. He clearly shows how the history of Latin in education has undergone a change in aim from the Renaissance (fa-cility in reading, speaking, and writing for cultural, social, and economic life-preparedness), through that of John Locke and Chris-tian Wolf (mind-training and some contact with classical thought), down to the present practical abandonment of the language in favor of a fuller study of classical literature in the vernacular. Father Gauss has written a challenging and controversial book that certainly will be most helpful in the discussions and planning of modern Catholic education.--RAYMOND J. SCHNEIDER, S.J. BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS BEAUCHESNE ET SES FILS, Rue de Rennes, 117, Paris. Le Ciet ou l'Enfer, I, Le Ciet. Par le Chanoine Georges Panneton. How little most religious know about heaven where they firmly hope to be happy for all eternity! But then heaven is not a subject about which many books have been written. Readers of French therefore owe a debt of gratitude to Canon Panneton for his excel-lent treatment of this much neglected subjedt. His book covers the subject most thoroughly, and is based on sound theology. Learned and unlearned alike will read this book with pleasure and profit. Pp. 253. ¯ THE BRUCE PI.)BLISHING COMPANY, Milwaukee 1, Wis. Jesus, 8on of Daoid. By Mother Mary Eleanor, S.H.C.J. To meditate on an incident in the life of our Lord, we are told to imagine that we are present as the incident unfolds. If this has been difficult for you, you must read Jesus, 8on of Daoid, and learn how a person blessed with a vivid imagination carries out this ad- 272 September, 1955 BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS ~¢ice. You will find the bbok very easy to read, and it should make your meditations on the life of our Lord much more vivid. The book also serves as an excellent introduction to the life of our Lord for the young and for those who find it difficult to profit from the learned biographies ~ of Jesus. Pp. 224. $3.25. Bloody Mary. By Theodore Maynard. Lest the reader be mis- -led, the author points out in his very first paragraph that he uses the title ironically. He also insists, and with truth, that his book is in no sense "special pleading," but an objective study of °the available historical documents. He is an inveterate scholar and de-lights in communicating his findings to others as his more than thirty books testify. If you are interested in Tudor England, you must read Bloody Mary. Pp. 297. $4.95. CLONMORE AND REYNOLDS, LTD., 29 Kildare St. Dublin. Meditations for Priests, Seminarians, and Religious. Compiled by Dominic Phillips, C.M. This book of meditations was designed to help those beginning mental prayer. There is a twenty-two page introduction that deals with the excellence and necessity of mental prayer, gives detailed instruction on mental prayer according to the method of St. Francis de Sales, and gives advice about the ordinary difficulties encountered in meditation. All the meditations are of uniform length, a page for each meditation, and follow a uniform pattern. The book should prove helpful not only to beginners but also to those more advanced. Pp. 456. 25/-. LA EDITORIAL CATOLICA, S.A., Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos, Apartado 466, Madrid. Ciencia Moderna y Fitosofia. Introduction Fisicoquimica ~t Mathematica. Pot Jose M. Riaza, S.J. In every major seminary certain courses called Quaestiones Scientigcae, wh

Issue 13.4 of the Review for Religious, 1954. ; Review for Religious JULY 15, 1954 Religious and Modern Needs . . Jordan Aumann Mindfulness . ¢. A. Herbsf Duns Scofus . Berard Vogt Aposfolic School . Slster M. Ange~ic]a Apparitions and Revelations . .~ugustlne G. Ellard Spirlfual Opiates . Joseph P. Fisher Saints in No-Man's Land . George Syrne =~uestions and Answers Beatifications, 1951-1952 Communications Book Reviews¯ NUMBER 4 RI VII:::W FOR RI::LIGIOUS VOLUME XIII JULY, 1954 NUMBER CONTENTS RELIGIOUS LIFE AND MODERN NEEDS--3ordatt Aumann, O.P. 169 MARIAN YEAR PLAY . 178 OUR CONTRIBUTORS . 178 MINDFULNESS~. A. Herbst, S.3 . 179 COMMUNICATIONS . ' . " . . 183 DUNS SCOTUS, DEFENDER OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEP-TION-- Berard Vogt, O,F.M . 184 THE APOSTOLIC SCHOOL--Sister M. Angeli¢ia, C.S.J . 187 SACRA VIRGINITAS . . . 192 OUR ADDRESSES . 192 APPARITIONS AND REVELATIONS: SOME CLASSIFICATIONS-- Augustine G. Ellard, S.J . 193 BEATIFICATIONS, 1951-1952 . 205 SPIRITUAL OPIATES-~Joseph P. Fisher, S.J . 207" TO ALL THE SAINTS IN NO-MAN'S LAND~George Byrne, S.3. 211 NEW CONGREGATIONS . 216 CONGRESS IN BUENOS AIRES . 217 COMMENTARY ON LITTLE OFFICE . . ' . 217 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS-- 22. Advice for Mystic . . 218 23. The Occasional Confessor . 219 24. Approval for Revised Customary . 219 25. Licit Disposition of Income . 219 BOOK REVIEWS-- Kateri of the Mohawks; The All-Present God; The Holy Spirit in the Christian Life; Through Him, with Him, and in Him . 220 BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS . 223 BOOKLETS AND PAMPHLETS . 224 NOTICE FOR PUBLISHERS . ¯ . 224 REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, July, 1954, Vol. XIII, No. 4. Published bi-monthly: 3anhary, March, May,duly, September, and November at the College Press, 606 Harrison Street, Topeka, Kansas, by St. Mary's College, St. Marys, Kansas, with ecclesiastical approbation. Entered as second class matter January 15, 1942, at the Post Office, under the act of March 3, 1879. Editorial Board: Augustine G. Ellard, S.J., Adam C. Ellis, S.J. Gerald Kelly, S.J., Francis N. Korth, S.3. Copyright, 1954, by Adam C. Eilis, S.J. Permission is hereby granted for quota-tions of reasonable length, provided due credit be given this review and the author. Subscription price: 3 dollars a year; 50 cents a copy. Printed in U. S. A. Before writing to us, please consult notice on inside back cover. Religious Life and Modern Needs Jordan Aumann, O.P. THE General Congress On the States of Perfection, held at Rome in 1950 under the auspices of the Sacred Congregation of Religious and with the approval of Pope Pius XIi, brought to the attention of the Catholic ~orld the keen interest and paternal solicitude of the Supreme Pontiff for the condition of religious life in the modern~ world. The Congress, however, was not an unex-pected and isolated event; rather it was the culmination of a. well-laid i01an for the renewal of the primitive spirit in religious insti-tutes. As early as June, 1939, th~ Holy Father addressed 'an allocution to the members of the Gene'ral Chapter of the Friars Minor and urged them to striv~ earnestly to ,recapture the spirit of their Seraph'ic Father. Since that time, both the Holy Father and the Sacred Con-gregation of Religious have repeatedly admonished religious to re-new their interior spirit and adapt themselves to the urgent ne"eds of the presefit day. With the publication of the Acta et Documenta of the 1950 Congress, religious superiors have a handy guide for the fulfillment of the Pope's desires.1 The volume contains theological and can-onical treatises on the state of perfection as well ~.as many practical suggestioris for the adaptation and renewal that are'requested b,y the Holy See. The .Mind bf the Church ' Between 193~ and 1950, in'allocut-ions and letters to the Fran-ciscans, Jesuits, Redemptorists, Dominicans, and CanonS of St. Au-gustine, the Holy Father has stressed the need for certain adjust-ments in religious institutes in view of the conditions of modern life and for a revival of the spirit of the founders in the various in-stitutes, s, The Pontiff realizes all too keenly that in encouraging an ! !Cf. Acta et Documenta: Congressus General(s de Statibus Perfectionis, published in 1952 by Pia Sbciet;i San Paolo, Via Beato Pio X, Rome, Italy. sin an apostolic letter to the Society of Jesus on June 26, 1944, the Pope warned against the "heresy of action." In a letter to the Master General of the Domini- ¯ cans on July 16, 1946, he urged the Friars Preachers to hold fast to She regular life, monastic observances, assiduous study of sacred truth, and solemn recithtion of the Divine Office, warning them not to make a constant practice or custom of that whi'ch is only a laudable exception. ' 169 JORDAN AUMANN Review for Religious adaptation of the religious life and a return to the primitive'spirit of the founders, he is issuing a bold challenge to all religious insti-tutes. For that reason he has repeatedly warned that none of the essential elements of r'eligious life and spirit can be changed or jetti-soned, but only the accidentals and the techniques of the apos~tolat~. In his address to the Congress. on the States of' Perfectiori,3 Cardinal Piazza outlined the program of .ad,aptation and renewal and gave a precise expression of the intentions of the Holy Father this impor'tant matter. The central theme'of the Congress. w~is an accommodata renooatio, that is, a renewal of the primitive'spirit Of religious institutes adapted to the needs of the pr.esent day. Conse-quently, changes are to be made on two levels. First and most im-portant, there must be in every religious institute a return to the spirit that animated the founder and earliest members of that insti-tute. Secondly, adaptations and accommodations must be made in regard to the apostolate of each religious institute. Cardinal Piazza insisted that every religious institute should be a living continuation of the mind and spirit of its founder, for the , religious.life is ever actual and vital. If there is danger that this spirit is languishing in any institute, let that institute reform its structure, renew its directive organs, and refashion the means to end to fit the needs of the da3}. Yet, all this must be done with the approval of proper ecclesiastical authority. The best and most efficacious renewal of the spiril~ of any r~- ligious institute is a ~return to the spirit of the founder, an exact ob-' servance of the constitutions of that institute, and a promotion of common life and fraternal cha,rity. The dilemma proposed by the Cardinal can be expressed ver'y briefly: "Renew your spirit or die." But even in the midst of renewal and adaptation, major superiors Will avoid the shoals of extreme conservatism and a mania for nov-' elty. When it c~mes to the ques~i~on of adaptation in an3] religio~.s institute, the need is particularl~r felt in the field of the apostolate. Nevertheless, the urgency of the times ,demands an_d justifies an ad-justment in the accidental structure of the internal life of l~he ihsti-tute as well. Certain thing~ do not admit of a change without' the destruction of the institute. Such things belong to the substanfi~ii ele- 3Noti~ that the Congress was purposely designated as a congress on the states'of perfection in order to include the members of various secular institutes. "While not religious in a juridical sense, the members of secular institutes, since'they live un-der vow, nevertheless belong to the state of perfection. July, 1954 RELIGIOUS LIFE AND MODERN NEEDS ment; for example, the juridical personality, the essence of thevows, the special' scope and characteristic spirit of the institute, and the ¯ common laws of religious life as found in the Code of Canon Law. But in regard to the methods and techniques used in the field Of the apostolate, great.adaptation is possible and desirable. If.the modern religious is not making contact with souls, if his schedule of life is at variance with that of the people to whom he is sent to min-ister, or if he is not as expert in his field of activity as are the laymen working in the same field, then'adjustments are surely in order. But at thi~ point religious superiors are reminded of the admonition of Pope Pius XII in his apostolic exhortation, Menti Nostrae, that new forms and methods in the apostolate must always be under the care and vigilance ot~ the bishops. For it is a regulation of canon law (cans. 456, 500, 630) that whenever religious are charged with the care Sf souls, they are subject to the local ordinary in that re-spect. In other words,' it is the mind of'the Pope that religious or-ders be bound by profound loyalty and obedience to: .the. Holy See and the'hierarchy. Adaptation, not Mitigation Solne religious may be tempted to welcome any change or adap-tation as a mitigation of the primitive spirit and regular observance. Both the Holy Father and representatives of the Sacred'Congrega-tion of Religious have warned that such is not the intention of the ¯ Ho!y See. In :a stirring address to the 1950 Congress, Father R. Lombardi, S.J., stated that if the needs of the time are great, so also is the need for truly religious men and women. The Church today needs religious who are animated by true charity and detachment from the things of the world, and we should expect to find many such.religious in the various institutes.' Unfortunately, we some-times find that those very men and women who have publicly bound themselves to the serious obligation of striving after perfec-tion under the vows are content to do the very minimum that is re-quired or, what is worse, they turn back again,to the very things they have voluntarily surrendered. "The times also require, said Father Lombardi, religious supe-riors who will have the leade~rship and courage to revive the spirit of the foun.ders in their own institute or province. No adaptation or renewal can come .from belo.w; it must come from those who .before God are res.ponsib!e in a large measure for the religious observance and p.e?sonal holiness of their subjects. Cofisequently, superiors have a difficult task. They are not entrus'ted with the mere enforcement. 171~. JORDAN AUMANN Reuieu~ [or Religious of an inflexible law; they must understand the needs of the times, the talents and weaknesses of their subjects, and the spirit ~f their religious institute. The superior must in every instance stri~re to act in the same way that the founder would act were he alive today. Consequently, the revival of the primitive spirit and an 'adapta-tion to present-day needs can in no sense be understgod or inter-preted as an excuse for the m~tigation of the rules and practices, of religiousllife. The Holy See has insisted that the spirit of the insti-tute, its proper e'nd and scope, and all that is requ!red for the pres-ervation of its spirit and end must be carefully safeguarded and pre-served. The renovation must be inteinal and spiritual. To think that a mere change in the legislation of a religious in-stitute will effect this renovation is as dangerous as it is erroneous. Such an attitude, stated Bishop Ancel of Lyons, is an implicit be-lief in a kind of materialism which holds that mere structural modi-fications suffice to provide the desired renovatioh. The real purpose, of the renovation is to, revivify the primitive spirit of the institute and to help the members strive more successfully after Christian,per-fection. .Only fervent religious can stand an adaptation and only strong religious can live for any length of time under dispensations. But, the Bishop continued, the desired renovation and adaptation will not come about merely by having superiors insist on the literal ob-servance of the constitutions. We must at no time lose sight of the two elements contained in the present program: revi'val of the primi-tive spirit of the institute and an adaptation to the requirements of the apostolate. Interior Life and the Apostolate No religious institute exists primarily for the apostolate or for any particular work. in, the Church. The Basis of the religious'life is the profession of vows which are used as instruments in attaining the perfection of charity. The primary purpose of the religious in-stitute is the sanctification of its members. Consequently, the true vocation and goal of the individual religious is to strive to become a .saint and the primary function of the religious superior is to assist and guide subjects to'sanctity, especially by fostering observance of the constitutions of th'e institute. This point is all important for a correct understanding'and evaluation of the religious life.4 4Cf. the,, definition of the religious state in canon 487, the statement of the purpose of religiou~ life in canon 488. and the enumeration of the obligations of religious superiors in canons 592-95. ~ 172 , JuI~,1954 RELIGIOUS LIFE AND MODERN NEEDS But Christian perfection and sanctity consist primarily in char-ity, which is an interior perfection. To this end, the con~tltutions of religious institutes prescribe an external conduct and mode of life that will lead religious more readily to the perfection of charity. Thus, the constitutions of 'the Dominican.Order explicitly state that the four essential means for attaining Dominican sanctity are the regular life, monastic observances, the study of sacred truth, and the solemn recita.tion of the Divine Office and that none of these means may be substantially altered. If the constitutions of a religious institute have received the ap-probation of the Holy See,it is because they have been judged fitting means- to the attainment of evangelical perfecuon. It follows, there-fore, that whatever touches upon the essence of the vows and the substantial elements of the regular life cannot be modified or changed without destroying-the religious life as it is juridically de-fined by the Church. Moreover, no religious subject or superior is free to abandon permanently any of these substantial elements of the constitutions of his institute,s In addition to those elements that pertain to the very essence of religious life, the constitutions contain particular legislation for the preseryation of xhe spirit and aim of the institute. In this 'respect also there are things that cannot be changed without destroying the distinctive spirit and character of the religious institute. Thus, liturgical prayer is characteristic of Benedictine life, the assidu6us study of sacred truth is the mark of the Friar Preacher,. and p.o,v,- -erty is the dominant note in Franciscan life. ~ The above elements pertain to the interior life of the members of a religious institute and are directed to the attainment of pe'rfec-tion. For that reason they are of primary importance. But the Church also 'approves of a mission or apostolate for each religious in~itute, with the understanding, however, that the ~hurch may subsequently restrict or enlarge the scope of the apostolate without destroying the nature and spirit of the' institute itself. For the ~apos-t61ate is and always remains a secondary element in the religious 5The religious under vows has promised obedience to the constitutions as expressed and commanded by his superior, but the religious superior does not have unlimited power in giving commands. He must abide by the limitations placed on his au-thority by those same constitutions. The subject has vowed to obey what is-in the constitutions; the superior may not gratuitously abolish any prescriptions in the constitutions nor may he demand more of the subject than the constitutions themselves demand. ¯ 173 JORDAN AUMANN Review for Religious life; the first and most important function of any religious institute is the sanctification of its members.6 From what has been said, it follows that success in the aposto-late as a preacher, teacher, writer, or social worker is not a necessary. indication of the holiness and worth of a religious. Success in these activities may just as ~asily be the result of purely natural talent, ambition, pride, or t~e love of financial gain. A religious is not a good religious except through the observance of the constitutions which he vowed to use as a pattern and guide in his struggle for holiness. Indeed, even that does not suffice, for the observance of rules is of no value for sanctification unless motivated in some way by the love of God. The energy consumed in the labors df the apostolate, the hours spent in the classroom, pulpit, or sickroom, the inconvenience of traveling from one mission to another--none of these is the sole criterion of the value' and worth of a religious. For it is not the work that makes us holy, but the love with which we do it. This does not mean that the activity of the apostolate need ever be an obstacle to deep spirituality or even to the observance of one's constitutions. The admonitions of the Holy Father are very clear on this point. The present Pontiff encourages modern religious to strive with all their hearts to become apostles in the true sense of the word. And surely, such great founders as St. Francis, St. Dominic, and' St. Ignatius have shown us that exhausting labors are com-patible with profound sanctity. What was the secret of their suc-cess? It was due in no small measure to the fact that they never ceased to be great lovers of God and souls and .men of prayer.7 6In the ancient religious orders there was a much closer relationship between the aim or scope of the institut~ and the spirit of the institute, so that in some cases it may be difficult to change the aim of the institute without destroying the peculiar character of the institute itself. This is especially true of the older contemplative and mixed orders. The same situation does not hold true in regard to the modern active institutes. Nevertheless the same principle applies to all forms of religious" life: the work of the apostolate should proceed from a deep interior life. 7What is to be done when the individual religious judges that excessive activity is harmful to his growth in sanctity? Objectively, the answer is simple: the first obligation of the religious is to sanctify himself; the primary function of the su-perior is to help his subjects grow in holiness. But if the superior insists that the activity be continued, what can the subject do but obey, trusting to find a way to use excessive work as an instrument of sanctification and letting the superior an-swer to God if there be any culpability in such a situation? In an allocution to the Discalced Carmelites in September, 1951, the Holy Father warned superiors that they are not to be infected with a machine-age mentality so that they treat their subjects like so many machines and lose sight of the human personality. 174 dul~ , 1954 RELIGIOUS LIFE AND MODERN NEEDS. Once it has been seen that the primary purpose of th~ re.ligious life is the sanctification of,its members° and that the apos~olat( should rightly prdceed from a deep interior life, it should bk evident that there is no contradiction or paradox in the directives that have beenissued from the Holy See. The first task is the revival of~ the primitiye spirit of religious institutes and a concerted effort to bring all religious back to regular observance and th~ common life. Then, the major superiors, following the directives of the Holy" See, will make suitable adaptations of that revitalized religious life to the needs of modern Christians. In some cases the adaptations may take unexpected turns. It may mean that this or that religious institute will find it necessary to abandon parishes in areas where there is no longer a shortage of diocesan clergy; others will realize that they have drifted into all manner of apostolic works, good in themselves, but outside the scope of the institute and the aim of the founder; still others will discover that they have almost completely aban-doned the principal work which was entrusted to them by the Church. It is at this point that couragequs superiors will be needed, for there is a strong temptation to succumb to passive disobedience to the Hol.y See. As Cardinal Piazza pointed out in his discourse at the 1950 Congress, if religious do not live their constitutions as conscientiously as possible and hold themselves to .the aim and work of their institute, there is no longer any distinction among religious institutes and, therefore, no reason for their existence as dist'inct groups or societies. Points for Adaptation In the various allocutions, letters, speeches, and written reports published in the Acta et Documenta of the Congress on the States of Perfection, certain points have been stressed in regard to the desired ad~aptations of religious life to modern needs. While allowing for different circumstances in various countries and religious institutes~ there are general lines which such adaptations should follow. More-over, all adaptations should be visualized and planned against,the background of the Pope's admonition that proper ecclesiastical " channels are to be observed. Observations on the cloister are to be found in Sponsa Christi as well as other documents~ that have been issued,by the Holy~ See. There is no indication that an attempt is being made to abandon the cloister; rather, the cloister is to be safeguarded even when reli-gious institutes assume some form of the apostolate that brings.the 175 ,JORDAN AUMANN Review [or Religious members into close contact with the world. It is still true that the world is to be kept out of the cloister as much as possible and that the religious are to leave the cloister only~ to bring the things of God to the world. The Holy Fat~er has urged many times that religious should make use of modern inventions in the work of' the apostolate and that they should equal and even surpass lay people in the same areas of work. But work for the sake of work or work done for a purely natural motive has never been advocated. If the apostolate is un-dertaken with such an attitude, it can be as much an obstacle to the perfection of the religious as any other impediment to spiritual growth. Much less should the works of the apostolate be measured or' motivated by purely monetary values. The apostle is such by reason of his love of God, his. commission by the ,Church, and his zeal for souls. As to the religious habit (and this principally affects .women religious), the Pope advised the teaching religious in September, 1951: "The religious habit: choose it in such a way that it becomes the expression of inward naturalness, of simplicity and spiritual modesty." Many congregations have been prompt to obey this suggestion of the Pope and have refashibned habits and veils that were unsanitary, uncomfortable, and a source ,of amazement to the laity. At various times the Hdly Father has stressed the importance if the common life and urged that superiors be truly paternal (or ma- ~ternal). The religious life should be a family life and the superiors~ should respect the individual personalities of their subjects while the subjects hold each other in truly fraternal affection. So ~losely is the common life linked with the vows and regular observance that it can be said to be the very foundation of religious spirit and dis-cipline. Consequently, anything that militates against the common life--such as personal income, excessive individualism, prolonged absences from the cloister, or unreasonable dispensations from com-munity exercises--should be eliminated as much as possible. Lastly, the very Constitutions tha~ regulate the life of an institute may at times be in need of adaptation. In his address to teaching religious the Ho~ly Father observed: "Followed in letter and in spirit,-your constitutions, too, facilitate and bring the Sister all she .needs and must do in our time to be a good teacher and educator. ¯ . .' It is possible that some details of the school schedules, certain 176 duly, 1954 ° RELIGIOUS LIFE AND MODERN NEEDS regulations--simple applications of .the Rule---certain customs which were, perhaps, in harmony with past conditions but Which today merely hinder educational work, must be adapted to new cir-cu'mstances. Let superiors and general chapters proceed in this mat-ter conscientiously, with foresight, prudence, and courage, and, where the case demands, let them not fail to submit the proposed changes to t~he competent eccles{astical authorities."_ American Adaptations It may seem that the directives and suggestions of the Holy See have little application in the United States, since from the very be-ginning there has been an'adaptation of religious life to the needs of the times. However, we shall undoubtedly find, after an honest self-examination, that we have been somewhat remiss in regard to the second aspect of the quest'ion: the renewal of the primitive reli-gious spirit and the subsequent deepening of the interigr life. Th'ree dangers or excesses especially threaten the religious life in the United States: naturalism, the loss of the spirit of mortification, and ex-cessive activity. In a country where there are many demands on the religious in the field of the apostolate and where there is no long-standing tra-dition of a Catholic" culture, it is understandable that naturalism may quite easily pervade the religious life. If the religious observ-ances and customs seem foreign or artificial to ~he American tem-perament and if the religious habit itself is gradually looked upon as an academic gown or judge's robe, to be worn only for certain functions, the religi6us may readily lose sight of the meaning of re-ligious life. Only a serious attempt to live the regular life and to actualize the spirit of his institute will make the religious con. stantly aware of his distinct state. Only a deepening interior life and super-naturai motivation will preserve the religious from the taint of naturalism. The loss of the spirit of mortification may be due in large part to the fact that many religious live under a permanent dispen-sation from the penances and mortifications prescribed by their con-stitutions, as well as the fact that the standard of life in the United States is noticeably higher than that of other countries. Whatever be the cause, there is no doubt that the universal teaching of spir-itual writers on the necessity of mortification in the spiritual life has never lost its value. Here again, a more scrupulous observhnce of the constitutions and a revival of the primitive sp_irit of the religious 177 JORDAN AUMANN : institute will go a long, way to check the inroads of mitigatibn and laxity. "Sufficient has already been said concerning the true role of action and t~e apostolate in the religious and spiritual life. It remains merely to observe that religious who are overburdened with many external activities can har'dly hope to be scholar~, writers, or stu-dents; religious who return to the cloister in a state of nervous ex-haustion are rarely in a mood that is conducive to prayer, medita-tion, or the common life; and religious who live only for the works of the apostolate are in danger of drying up at the source and of missing the real purpose of their religious profession: to strive for personal sanctity. The HQIy Father has imposed upon religious the twofold task of reviving the primitive spirit of their founders and of adapting re-ligious life and work to the needs of the Church today. It is a chal-lenge to religious to live as perfectly as possible the life which they have voluntarily embraced. If the task is accepted and the challenge is answered, we shall undoubtedly begin, to raise up saints for our times. MARIAN YEAR PLAY Counted as Mine is a play of three acts, six scenes, with a modern-dress cho-rus, suitable for performance by high school and college students or by little the-atre groups and parish drama clubs: It is the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Hope of America. Written by a Poor Clare, the author of the play, Candle in Umbria, and of the book of poems, Whom I Hao'e Looed. $1.00 per copy. Order from: Rev. Mother M. Immaculata, P.C., Poor Clare Monastery of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Route 1, Box 285-C, Roswell, New Mexico. OUR CONTRIBUTORS JORDAN AUMANN teaches at the College of Saint Teresa, Winona, Minnesota, and is the literary editor of the Cross and Crown Series of Spirituality. C.A. HERBST is a spiritual director and teacher at the Jesuit Juniorate at Florissant, Missouri. 'BERARD VOGT, of Christ the King Seminary, St. Bonaventure, New York, is a leading authority on the teaching of the great Franciscan theologian, John Duns Scotus. SISTER M. ANGELICIA is professor of psychology and edu-cation at Marymount College, Salina, Kansas. AUGUSTINE G. ELLARD is a mem-ber of our editorial board. GEORGE BYRNE is professor of ascetical theology at Milltown Park, Dublin, Ireland. JOSEPH P. FISHER is master of novices at Flo-rissant, Missouri. 178 , /V indt:ulness C. A. Herl~st, S.J. ROUTINE can be a blight in the religious life. It can be like the rust of which Our Lord spoke, which consumes, or like the thief that breaks through and steals, treasures of potential merit for eternal life. We want to give our life to God whole-heartedly. That is what a religious is supposed to do. They espe-cially are called religious, says St. Thomas, "who dedicate their whole life to the divine service, withdrawing themselves from worldly affairs" (II-II, q. 81, a. !. ad 5). We want to real-ize our ?eligious life, to make it real, to make it religious life. Oh, yes, we go through each day of our life in religion according to the order of the day from the time we rise in the morning till we go to bed at night. We do our work and are obedient and all that, but how much of all this is mech~inical! We just go through the motions often, whereas in a life dedicated to God our aim ought to be to put our whole heart, as much as possible, into each of our actions. When we pronounce our vows, we make our religious profes-sion. We profess publicly and solemnly to lead a religious life. That is our way of life now. We profess to practice the virtues of ¯ religious living in°a striking expert way. We are professionals. We follow the profession of religion, and religion is the virtue by which we render God due worship and reverence. We are supposed to be perfectionists at that. Nothing but the best is good enough for us. That is what everybody expects of one who'follows a profession, who'claims to be expert in his specialty. A doctor of medicine is supposed and expected to be first-rate in his' line. He is expected to have the best technique, to keep up on the most up-to-date medical practices and procedures, to know his field thoroughly, to read the most recent medical journals, to consult with other specialists. Woe to the medical man who fails in any of these things! His sloth or carelessness or neglect will soon bring him into ill repute in a pro-fession where the standards are so high. He may lose his patients and will be forced to drop out of his profession. Religious are professionals. They profess to give their whole attention to the practices of the religious life, a life lived in com-mon under a rule in the practice of poverty, chastity, and obedi-ence, }~n which they are obliged to tend to perfection. In order to 179 C. A. HERBST Reoiew for Religious maintain the high standards of our profession we must be raindful of our obligations. To practice poverty properly, we must be mind-ful of poverty~ We are mindful of our vow of poverty when we frequently call to mind that we have a vow of poverty. So it is good to renew our vow often. We should do this especiall~ when we are called upon to practice it. After all, we take the vow in order to practice the virtue. As we are so often told, anyone can take a vow; but practicing it carefully is a different matter. T.he b~st way to be mindful of poverty is to wish to experience at times some of its effects; or, better, to see to it that we actually do experience them. I want to get along without things. I do not want what I do not need. And, since our poverty consists rather in dependence than in penur% I want to get permission for thifigs, I am eager to ask permission for things. When I doubt whether I need permissign or not, I get it anyway because I want to feel the effects of poverty. When I ask.permisSion for things I say, "I vow poverty to my Blessed Savior." I want what He had. I want to feel it as He did. I want to be mindful that being rich He became poor for our sakes, that through His poverty I might be rich (cf. II Cor. 8:9). Nor do I want to "stick" to things. If I have some little thing I very much like and feel attached to, I get permission to give it away. If'we are mindful of a thing, we think of it often.' If we are mindful of a thing, we love it. "Where your freasure is there is your heart also," Our Lord said. When I am mindful of chastity, I love it, I treasure it. When we loveand treasure a" tiling, we are very careful of it. We take no chances on having it soiled or on losing it. As a virgin soul in love with the Son of God and the Son of Mary, I treasure chastity, I love chastity, I jealously guard chas-tity, I am careful of chastity, I am mindful of this wonderful virtue so lovingly enshrined in my vow and 'often say, "I vow chastity to my Blessed Savior." "I want what You had," I say to Him. So We are very circumspect about persons, places, and things. When we are mindful of chastity, we are not scrupulous but just careful in our dealings with others, of where we go and what we do and hear and see. It__ is foolish to look for trouble. There are many temptations we need not have, should not have, dare not have. If we are careless in what we see and read, try to hear everything, let the sensuous and pleasure-loving world in through all the avenues of our se,nses, and are always seeking the comfortable and avoiding the disagreeable, we are not mindful of the defenses of chastity. We 180 dul~], 1954 " , MINDFULNESS practice mortification of the senses and shun worldliness in order to guard the outworks of this beautiful and delicate virtue. When I keep the rules of modesty, I am mindful of chastity. When I mor-tify my eyes, my ears, and my affections, I prove that I love the purity of Christ. When often during each day, in practicing these little mortifications, I say, "I vow chastity to my Blessed Savior," I am mindful of my determination to lead a virgin life. I am mindful of my vow of obedience when, on being told to do a thing I do it and pray, "I vow obedience to my Blessed Savior." Obedience of execution--that is, doing externally what I am told to do--is obedience of the first degree; but I am not satisfied with that. If I am truly mindful of obedience, I want to pass to a higher de-gree. I not only do what I am told but want to do it, will what the superior wills because that is God's ~will for me. I'line up my will with that of the superior because in doing that I am conforming my will to God's will. That is love: the union of two wills. I am still more mindful of obedience if I try to see things the superior's way, conform my mind° and judgment to his way of thinking. This is the third and highest degree of obedience; sometimes called "blind" obedience, it is not really blind at all but rather very keen-visioned and enlightened. When I am thoroughly mindful of obedience, I obey not only faithfully and willingly and lovingly but with joy. The perfect and infinitely lovable model of obedience is Jesus at Nazareth. With what joy this loving Child must have obeyed Joseph and Mary! One can scarcely imagine anything like reluctance or sourness in Our Lord's obedience. The atmosphere was filled with gladness in that wonderful home. And so it should be in ours; and that not only in the practice of obedience, but of poverty and chastity too. What gives me the greatest consolation in my religious life is that, when I "do what the superior says, follow carefully the order of the day and the prescriptions of the rule and the customs of the house, etc., I am most certainly doing God's will. I just cannot make a mistake in being perfectly obedient. Should an official in the house, or the local superior, or the highest superior for that matter, make a mistake, I myself am doing God's will by obeying in everything save sin. I show that I am mindful.of obedience by doing lovingly and joy-fully for God whatever I am directed to do. To be mindful of poverty, chastity, and obedience: to expressly renew my vows and prayerfully and carefully bring my actions under them and so practice the virtues they enshrine: this indeed is a 18"1 C. A~ HERBST Review for Religious bl~ssed mindfulness. To be mindful, too, that I am profssional, that in the service of God I am following the highest of professions here on this earth, will b~ing my religious life to its "highest vi[ality. There are some other things, too, of which I should be mindful in order that I may lead a vigorous and highly meritorious religious life. Purity of intention--frequently, fervently, lo4ingly re-offer-ing to.God all my works and prayers' and joys and sufferings for the salvation and sanctification of myself and others, in adoration, reparation, thanksgiving, and petition--is one of the chief general means to perfection. To say frequently, fervently, thoughtfully, lovingly, "All for 3esus through Mary," or "Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost," is to turn all our good or indifferent actions into the pure gold of merit for eternal life and to win for souls graces beyond measure. Mindfulness too of the presence of God is a wonderful, easy, joyous, consoling, and elevating practice. The Old Testament seems to have emphasized the idea of God present near and around us; the law of love brought by Christ Our Lord emphasizes God within us. "If any man love me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and will make our abode with him" (3ohn 14:23). God, the Most Holy Trinity, lives in my soul as in His temple, as in His shrine. How the pray-erful, lingering, loving thought of this presence rejoices and elevates the soul! And He lives not in my soul only, but in my body. "Know you not that your members are the temple of the Holy Ghost, w, ho is in you, whom y6u have from God; and you are not your own?" (I Cor. 6:19). "Know you not that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? But if any man violate the temple of God, him shall God destroy. For the temple of God is holy, which you are" (I cor. 3:16-17). "Not my will but thine be done" was Our Lord's repeated prayer in the Garden of Olives. He is but praying here as He taught us all to pray in the perfect prayer, the Our Father. To be mindful of this under the aspect of abandonment to God's holy will in the duty of the present moment will bring great peace and joy into the heart of a religious. No one, I think, has ever presented this in finer fashion than Father de Caussade in his book Abandonment to Di-vine Providence. "The present moment is the ambassador of God to declare His mandates. The heart listens and pronounces its 'fiat.' . . . No soul can be truly nourished, fortified, purified, en-riched, and sanctified except in fulfilling the duties of the present 182 dult!, 19 5 4 COMMUNICATIONS moment. What more would you have? As in this you can find all good, why seek it elsewhere?° Do you kno.w better than God? As He ordains it thus why do you desire it differently? Can His good-ness and wisdom be deceived? When you find something to be in accordance with this divine wisdom and goodness ought you not to conclude that it must needs be excellent?" (I, i, 5 and 7.) Finally, there is mindfulness of the greatest of all the virtues, charity. "And the greatest of these is charity." "Love one an-other." This is the new commandment which the Divine Son brought down to Us from the bosom of our Father. This is the law of love. We should be mindful especially of Christ in our breth-ren. See Him there and love Him there. "What you do to these the least of m~rb r/ethren you do unto me." If we were mindful of this there would be an end to harsh and uncharitable attitudes of mind toward others and to rash judgments. Uncharitable talk and criticism would be no more, nor jealousy, nor faultfinding, nor deeds that wound the soul. Mindfulness of Christ in our brethren is most important in a religious family. It makes a heaven of a re-ligious house. "Little children, love one another." ommun{catdons Reverend Fathers : In the November, 1952, number of REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS I read a communication by Sister M. Immaculata, P.C. (Abbess). I was forcibly struck by this statement. "It is not what enriches us but what effaces us that leads to union with God" (p. 314). This very sentence has ever been and continues to be a positive mental and spiritual stimulus in my spiritual life. It has helped me more than any sermon or conference to conquer pride, especially pride of am-bition. It smoothed many a rough place for me. When pride as-serted itself and all was in a turmoil, this sentence proved to be a sacramental by calming my spirit and restoring peace. I hereby wish to express my grateful appreciation to Sister M. Immaculatao P.C.--TEACHING SISTER. 183 Duns Scot:us, Det:encler ot: t:he Jmmaculal:e Concepl:ion Berard Vogt, O.F.M. JOHN DUNS SCOTUS was born in Scotland in 1266. He entered the Franciscan Order at an early age and pursued his studies at Oxford. One of the more eminent theologians of the thirteenth century, he taught with great distinction both at Ox-ford and at Paris. He was called to Cologne in the summer of 1308 and died there unexpectedly in November of the same year. Duns Scotus is the leader of the Franciscan school of philosophy and theology. It is a historical fact .that popular Catholic tradition for centuries inclined towards belief in the doctrine of the Immaculate Concep-tion, as is evident from the introduction of a special feas~ of the Im-maculate Conception into the liturgy of the Church and from the gradual spread of the feast throughout Christendom. But the the-ologians and Doctors of the Church hesitated to ascribe this beauti-ful privilege to Mary because they found it impossible to solve cer-tain inherent difficulties, until Scotus appeared upon the scene and offered his p~e-redemption solution which p~epared the way for and ultimately was incorporated into the solemn dogmatic definition of the Immaculate Conception. The central difficulty was the Pauline teaching concerning the' need of universal redemption, found in the Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans: "Through one man sin entered the world, and through sin death, and thus death has passed into all men, because all have sinned." Duns Scotus made two important contributions to the contro-v'~ rsy. Admitting that Mary as a descendant of Adam stood in need of redemption because of the sin of Adam, he offered a novel solution to the subtle difficulties which had for so long baffled theo-logians by introducing into the solution of the problem the idea of pre-redempti6n and a distinction between order of nature and order of time. ' The views of the theologians may be stated generally by quoting the following passsage from the Summa of St. Thomas: "If tBe soul ot~ the Blessed Virgin had never been defiled by original sin, I84 gulg, J954 $ DuNSSCOTUS this Would derogate from the dignity of Christ according to which He is the Redeemer of all mankind. It may be said, therefore, that under Christ, who as universal Savior needed not to be saved Him-self, the Blessed Virgin enjoyed the highest, measure of purity. For Christ in no wise contracted original sin, but was holy in His ~¢ery conception . The Blessed Virgin, however, did contract original sin, but was cleansed therefrom before birth." (III, q. 27, a. 2, ad 2.) The Subtle Doctor answers this argument as follows: on the contrary, in defending Mary's prerogative of the Immaculate Con-ception, I am in fact attributing a more exalted and perfect role of redeemer to Christ, inasmuch as redeeming grace Which preserves from original sin is g,reater than that which merely-purifies from sin incurred. Christ was Mary's Redeemer and Mediator more per-fectly by preservative redemption. By preserving Mary from original sin in view of the foreseen merits of His sacrifice .on Calvary, Christ not merely redeemed her, but pre-redeemed her. This implies far greater grace and a far greater excellency of redemption. Scotus thus laid to rest the century-old objections derived from the Pauline doctrine concerning the need of universal redemp-tion, found al?eady with St. Augustine, St. Anselm, and St. Ber-nard, and later with the scholastic doctors. Rightly understood the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception will not offer any difficulty pre~centing Mary's noble prerogative. The need of incurring orig-inal sin, and equally the need of universal redemption by Christ, was not denied by Scotus. Nor did he claim that Mary as a daughter of Adam escaped this universal law. Mary was a d~lughter of Adam, he explained, before she was an adopted daughter of God. Therefore she was subject to original sin and in need of redemption. As a child of A'dam, she would in the ordinary course of events and according to the ordinary course of nature have incurred Adam's debt like other men. But in the order of time God could give her sanctifying, grace at the very moment of her conception. In this way Mary, though a child of Adam in the order of nature, would be made a child of God by the infusion of grace"before original sin could take effect in her soul. Inasmuch as generation precedes sanctification, Mary was a daughter of Adam before she became an adopted daughter of God. Therefore, she must have been in need of redemption, because sub-ject to original sin. But though in the order of our thoughts our 185 BER!kRD VOGT minds may dwell on Mary---conceived first as a daughter of Adam and then sanctified as a daughter of God, this does not imply a pri-ority of time which would demand in the soul of Mary" two succes-sive states, one of sin and the other of grace. There is only in her at the first moment of her existence a twofold relation: that of a daughter of Adam, for which she was indebted to her. human gen-eration, subject to the common law and establishing the debt of sin; and that of a daughter of God, which she owes to the privileged sanctification which protected her from the consequences of the common law find extinguished in her the debt of sin by a special ap-plication of the foreseen merits of the Savior. The Subtle Doctor sums up his views thus: "Mary, then, needed redemption more than anyone else. She needed redemption so much the more, the greater the good conferred upon her. Since perfect innocence is a greater good than remission of sin after a fall, a greater good was conferred upon her (by her Divine Son) by pre-serving her from original sin, than if she had been purified after-wards. Neither was it necessary on that account that Christ should have first suffered, because Abraham was purified from orig-inal sin which was in his person by virtue of the foreseen Passion of Christ." (Rep. III, dist 3, Qu. I, n. 8; ed. Vives xxiii, p. 264.) Duns Scotus exercised enduring powerful influence on the devel-opment and eventual dogmatic proclamation of the doctrine of the, Immaculate Conception. By his historic defense with its luminous definitions and distinctions, e.g., his pre-redemption theory and his suggestion of a distinction between the order of nature and the order of time, the Subtle Doctor cleared the dogmatic ground and greatly contributed to a final victorious solution. Cardinal Merry del Val in a letter to Fr. P. Pauwels, July 4, 1904, says of Scotus that he carried the torch of Mary's non-for-feiture of grace as on the crest of a wave to its ultimate triumph. ABOUT FRAUDS Some people who want to get money without effort are wont to request gifts and Mass stipends in the names of certain priests and missionaries. The victims, real or intended, are often sisters. Some priests whose names have been used in this way suggest that all such requests be refused unless those making the requests. can furnish positive identification. Similarly, we might again call attention to the fact that no one is authorized to solicit subscriptions for this REVIEW, 186 The Apos!:olic School Sister M. Angelicia, C.S.J. AT A GENERAL CHAPTER conducted at the Nazareth Motherhouse of the Sisters of Saint doseph of Concordia, Kansas, in dune, 1953, it was decided that an approach should be made toward the organization of a school for aspirants to the religious life which would be in connection with the mother-house. A committee was appointed to investigate the possibilities of such an organization. The first step taken by the committee was to locate convents or motherhouses to which were attached such schools for aspirants. As indicated in the Catholic Directory, there were sixty-eight mother-houses having schools similar to the type which the community had in mind. For the purpose of gathering information relative to the new project a questionnaire was formulated and was sent to each of these sixty-eight motherhouses. Fifty-seven, or approxi-mately eighty-four per cent, of the questionnaires were returned. The information received was both interesting and enlightening. The questionnaire, together with a digest of the answers, is given at the conclusion of this article. Before taking further steps in the organization of this school, we consulted the local ordinary, the Most Reverend Frank A. Thill, D.D., Bishop of Salina. The project met with his whole-hearted approval, as will be seen later in his letter to the priests of his diocese, as well as in those addressed to parents and their chil-dren. Moreover, since our congregation is a papal institute, and since our constitutions state explicitly that no new works are to be added without the permission of the Holy See, the mother general inquired from an official source whether the permission of the Sacred Congregation of Religious would be needed. She was informed that, in view of the remarks made by Father Arcadio Larraona, Secretary of the Sacred Congregation of Religious, at the 1952 meeting of superiors general in Rome, special permission of the Holy See was not needed for starting this school. A resum~ of Father Larraona's remarks has been made public. Since its contents were very helpful to us, and since it seems to be of vital importance to anyone planning to organize a school for aspi-rants, we quote this resum6 in full: 187 SISTER M. ANGELICIA Review for Religious "Apostolic schools are of comparatively recent origin, the .earli-est of them dating from about the middle of the last century. They have now become increasingly common in religious communities of women, as they are the general practice in communities of men. The Holy See has issued practically no legislation on the organization of such apostolic schools. The S. Congregation is patiently awaiting the guidance of experience. "These apostolic schools are not permitted by the S. Congrega-tion for cloistered nuns, or for religious whose lives closely approxi-mate to that of cloistered nuns. This is not.a real law of the Holy See, but rather a guiding norm, based on Rome's desire to avoid any semblance of pressure when there is question of a vocation calling for such special qualities as those required by the contemplative life. "The S. Congregation regards apostolic schools as internal schools of a religious community. This point is of canonical im-portance in determining the degree of freedom to be allowed the community in the organization and administration of these schools: a) those which do not require any actual signs of vocation to the religious life: b) those which demand at least the seeds of vocation to the religious life; c) those which require signs of a vocation to a specific type of religious life. "In any case, the organization and rules of an apostolic school should not lose sight of the fact that the girls in them are young. The atmosphere as far as possible, shoul~l be that of a family. The apostolic schools should not be turned into a noviciate in miniature. There should be nothir;g to interfere with the full freedom of the candidates in the final determination of their vocation. The pro-gram of studies should not be so highly specialized as to make ad-justment to a different type of life outside difficult. Teach the girls, first of all, to live good Christian lives. No asceticism at ,the expense of the moral law. Avoid~ whatever might even remotely result in deformation of the natural qualities and virtues of the candidates.''I With encouragement coming from every .direction, especially from our bishop, for the opening of an apostolic school by the Sisters of Saint 3oseph, it was thought best to begin,to make it known to the public. Publicity concerning the school appeared in many Catholic papers. The two most important announcements 1Cf. Acta et Documenta Congressu~ lnternationalig Superiorissarurn "Generalium, 1952, p. 274. These remarks on apostolic schoq!s form one part of Father Lar-raona's "Concluding Instructions addressed to the Reverend Mothers General," on the last day of their meeting in Rome, September 11-13, 1952. 188 Jul~,1954 THI~ APOSTOLIC SCHOOL were those ap1~aring in the diocesan Catholic Register. The first of these, entitled "Apostolic School to be Opened in Concordia in 1954," appeared in the November 1'5, 1953, issue of the Catholic Register. Excerpts from this article are as follows: "Concordia.--In the fall of 1954 the Sisters of Saint Joseph will open an Apostolic School in connection with their Mother-house in Concordia. "This preparatory school is intended for young girl's who show signs of a religious vocatio,n and who wish to join th~ Congregation of the Sisters of. Saint Joseph when circumstances permit. It is especially for those aspirants to the religious life who have not the opportunity of attending a Catholic h~gh school or who are placed in circumstances detrimental to a religious vocation. "The mode of life at the preparatory or Apostolic School will be practically the same as that of resident,students at an academy. The young women will follow the regular high school course as prescribed by the State Department of Education. All the advan-tages of the regular high school course will be available to the stu-dents in the Apostolic School . "Work in the classroom will be regularly and agreeably inter-rupted by daily indoor and outdoor recreational activities. The girls of this school will be allowed to return to their families during the summer vacation as Well as Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter vacations. "Those interested, .or who desire further information, may write to the Mother General, Nazareth Motherhouse, Concordia, Kansas." Bishop Thill .not only gave his whole-hearted support to the organization of an a~ostolic school but he asked that each parish in the Salina diocese finance the monthly board and tuition fee at the new apostolic school for any deserving girl whose parents could not afford the sum. His Excellency announced simultaneously that he was prepared to accept personal financial responsibility for ten such girls in the school of the Sisters of the Congregation of Saint Joseph of Concordia. Excerpts from the Bishop's letter concerning the school are as follows: "Rev, erend dear Fathers, Venerable Religious, Parents and Chil-dren : ' "Because I simply do not believe there is any such thing as a Divine vocation to embrace the, wrong vocation, I am concerned in a very vital and humane way with the establishment of the new 189 SISTER M. ANGELICIA Reoiew [or Religious Apostolic School by our Sisters of the Congregation of St. 3oseph of Concordia. I have been a priest too long, and a Chancellor and ¯ a Bishop, to be able to see anything desirable or even tolerable in the crushing frustrations and black unhappiness that burden so many men and women in our modern world. "In other words, I want to see the largest possible number of girls in this diocese given the opportunity to spend the critical years of their l~ves in an atmosphere that will help them to put first things first . It does not matter if the girls who enroll become religious sisters or not. Many of them will; but those who don't will have a first-class Catholic high school education, fitting them for places of trust and leadership in the parishes from which they come . "The openin~ of this school will certainly be good news to the pastors of the diocese. I recommend its purpose and its needs to the consideration of all our priests, and I hope they will agree with me in thinking it worthy of our enthusiastic and generous sup-port . "In conclusion, may I say to all of you, priests, people and children, that today's struggle is not primarily and exclusively a struggle against anything at all including even the struggle against bad tendencies and sin. It is, more fundamentally still, a struggle for something. Indeed, it is a struggle to be something, to be another Christ, possessed by the torrent of His life and of His love that alone can save the world. " As this paper is being, written the applications ot: aspirants to the apostolic school are coming in in a very satisfactory manner. If these applications continue they should gealize an enrollment of at least thirty students or aspirants to the religious life when the school opens in September, 1954. The Questionnaire and Replies I. DO. YOU MAINTAIN A PREPARATORY. SCHOOL FOR THE RELI-GIOUS LIFE? Yes, 50; No, 6; in former years, 1. ¯ 3. WHAT IS THE NAME OF YOUR SCHOOL? It is called: ' (A) A Juniorate, 13. (B) A.School for Aspirants, 26. ¯.(C) A Preparatory School, 9. ¯ . . (D). Others? Scholasticate, 1. ¯ Candidature, 1. 190 HOW LONG 'INKS IT BEEN ORGANIZED? Average, 23 years. duly, 1954 THE APOSTOLIC SCHOOL. 4. DO YOU FAVOR SUCH A SCHOOL? YES, 48; NO, 2. IF "YES" GIVE THE MOST OUTSTANDING ADVANTAGES.The most com-mon answers were: (A) "Prepares for the religious life." (B) "Fosters vocations." (C) "Gives members to our community." (D) "Gives a more solid foundation for future religious life." (E) "Our best vocations come from the juniorate." (F) "Because of the great percentage of vocations resulting." (G) "It gives girls a chance to study their vocations in surroundings con-ducive to spiritual life." 5. APPROXIMATELY W~AT PERCENTAGE OF ASPIRANTS BECOME RELIGIOUS? Average, 54%: range, 7% to 100%. 6. WHAT EDUCATIONAL LEVEL DO YOU ADMIT GIRLS? (A) First year high school, 41. (B) Second year high school, 21. (C) Third year high school, 26. (D) Fourth year high school, 26. 7. WHAT IS THE LONGEST TIME THE ASPIRANT IS KEPT BEFORE ENTERING THE POSTULATE? (A) One year, 2. (B) Two years, 4. (C) Three years, 14. (D) Three and one-half years, 7. (E) Four years, 19. 8. WHAT COURSE OF STUDY DO THE ASPIRANTS PURSUE? (A) "The regular high school course," 18. (B) ".College preparatory," 5. (C) "Classical Course," 2. (D) "Academic," 19. (E) "Academic and Commerce," 1. 9. ARE THERE REQUIRED SPIRITUAL EXERCISES? IF SO, OF WHAT DO THEY CONSIST? (A) "Daily attendance at Mass," 50. (B) "Rosary in common," 21. (C) "Spiritual reading," 24. (D) "Morning and night prayers in common," 21. (E) "Meditation," 18. (F) "Vespers," 6. (G) "Attendance at Benediction," 8. 10. HOW MUCH TIME IS GIVEN TO RECREATION? Average number of hours, 2~. WHAT TYPE OF RECREATION IS FOLLOWED? (A) "Indoor and outdoor sports," 44. (B) "S~tuare dancing," 24. (C). "Singing," 24. (D) "Dramatics," I0. (E) "Needlework, card-playing, etc." SISTER M. ANGELICIA 12. 13. WHAT FEE ISCHARGED FOR THE SCHOOL YEAR? $133.93 is the average yearly fee. The fee for one year ranged from ten dollars to four hun-dred dollars. IS THE TUITION FEE REFUNDED IN CASE THE ASPIRANT EN-TERS THE COMMUNITY? YES, 1; NO, 49. ARE INCIDENTAL EXPENSES 'MAINTAINED BY THE ASPIRANT'S FAMILY?. YES, 44; NO, 6. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. DO THE ASPIRANTS SPEND VACATION PERIODS AT HOME? YES, 43; NO, 2: "PART TIME," 1. (A) Christmas, 41. (B) Easter, 23. (C) Thanksgiving, 21. (D) Summer, 33. ARE ASPIRANTS EXPECTED TO FOLLOW ANY SPECIAL, PRO-GRAM DURING VACATION, PERIODS? IF SO, WHAT? YES, 15; NO, 31. See question 9 for suggested program. ARE VISITS OF RELATIVES RESTRICTED? YES, 39: NO, 7; IF RESTRICTED, EXPLAIN. NO ws~tmg permitted during Lent and Ad-vent in majority of cases. The first Sunday of the month is suggested for visiting friends and relatives. DO YOU HAVE REGULATIONS FOR CORRESPONDENCE? YES, 43: NO, 5; NO ANSWER, 2. ESO THE ASPIRANTS WEAR UNIFORMS? YES, 49; NO. I. SACRA VIRGINITAS According to a news announcement in The Register, the encyclical Sacra Vir-ginitas, which Pope Plus XII issued on March 25, 1954, is now available in pam-phlet form, complete with footnotes, from the NCWC Publications O~ce, 1312 Massachusetts Avenue, Washington 5, D.C. OUR ADDRESSES We have three different addresses. It would help considerably if all who com-municate with us would note them: 1. Business communications, such as subscriptions, renewals, etc., should be sent to: REVIEW FOR REL!GIOUS, 606 Harrison St., Topeka, Kansas. 2. Boobs for review should be sent to: book Review Editor, REVIEW,FOR RE-LIGIOUS, West Baden College, West Baden Springs, Indiana. 3. All other editorial communications, such as ma.nuscripts, questions, letters for publication, etc., should be sent to: The Editors, REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, St. Mary's College, St. Marys.' Kansas. 1'92 Apparitions and Revelations: Some Classit:ications Augustine G. Ellard, S.3. IN A PREVIOUS discussion some el~mentary suggestions were offered as to what attitudes one should take toward private ap-paritions and revelations, whether one's own or those reported of others (REVIEW FOR' RELIGIOUS° XIII [3anuary, 1954], 3-12). Now it is proposed to recall some of the descriptive classifications of such 6ccurrences that help one to think more intelligently and clearly'about them. ~[. DEFINITIONS AND DIVISIONS In an apparition a person or object is presented before, the con-sciousness of somebody at a time and place at which that presence is naturally inexplicable. For example, at the baptism of Christ a dove symbolizing the Spirit of God was seen descending from above and lighting upon Him (Matthew 3:16-17; 3ohn 1:32-34). On the same occasion a voice from heaven was heard proclaiming, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.''1 In a revelation in the proper sense God communicates some truth to one I~y way of speech. He does not manifest to one the objective truth itself, as He would in infused knowledge. He does express His ideas on it and thus let one know His mind about it.Of course it is also possible for the Blessed Virgin or an angel or a saint from h.eaven to speak to one. Evidently such an occurrence would be more than natural. Speech need not necessarily be in words; equivalent signs are con-sidered amply sufficient. Apparitions are in some way seen, revelations heard. Either may take place without the other. But they do come together so often that it is logical to treat them both at the same time. When, for instance, Bernadette Soubirous saw the beautiful maiden at Lourdes, she also heard the words, "I am the Immaculate Conception!" 1. Apparitions: Oculqr, In~aginati~e, Intellectual Probably the commonest classification of apparitions is that based upon the faculties involved. Some visions are external, sen, ]New Testament quotations in this article are taken from the translation made by Francis Aloysius Spencer, O.P. (New York: Macmillan, 1943). : 193 AUGUSTINE G. ELLARD Review for Religious ;sible, perceptible to the eyes, ocular. In this case an exterior objective reality of some sort outside of one is simply and literally seen. Thus, for example, Constantine is said to have beheld a cross in the sk~, with the inscriptiori, "In this sign shalt thou conquer!" When many people together perceive an apparition, the presumption is that it is external and really activates the eyes. Such were the appear-ances of Christ after the Resurrection; such also was the vision of the multitude at Fatima. Other apparitions take place in the interior senses and are termed imaginative. They are not imagina~ry, like hallucinations, but real and true in their own way, which, however may be misap-prehended. When one sees something, an image of it is produced not only upon the retina of the eyes but also in the interior faculty that psychologists call the imagination. God could easily bring about such a likeness without there being any corresponding exterior ob-ject present. Nor, if it should be of divine origin, would there be an hallucination and deception. It would convey to the mind in a merely internal way some truth intended by God. The vision granted to St. Peter and recounted in Acts 10:9-16 seems to be of this type. Peter "fell into an ecstasy; and he beheld heaven opened, and a kind of vessel descending, as it were, a great sheet ldt down by the four corners to the earth, in which were all kinds of quadrupeds and reptiles of the land, and birds of the sky." As is evident from the whole story, the apostle learned from this symbolic representa-tion in his imagination that he was to admit Gentiles as well as Jews into the Chur4b. In practice it may be very difficult to differentiate between ocular and imaginative visions, but if they are true and of divine origin it may be of only theoretical interest whether they be the one or the other. A third form of apparition is purely intellectua!~ Some person or. object is presented directly to the seer's intelligence, without the mediation of the eyes or the interior senses. This sort of vision is like that whereby an angel would see things, and therefore it is de: cidedly superhuman. It is also quite an indescribable experien~ce, except ~of course remotely and analogously. Of a vision of this kind St. Teresa wrote: "Jesus Christ seemed to be by my side continu-ally, and as this vision was not imaginary, I saw no form"--that is, it was not represented in her imagination--( Life, Ch. 27 : -Peers's translation, I, 170). 194 dulg, 1954 APPARITIONS AND REVELATIONS 2'. On "'Seeing" God . : ¯ ¯ The great mystics often speak of "seeing" God, as well as of having visions of lesser persons or objects. Hence an immense dif-ference must be noticed between visions that have as their object the Creator Himself, in whatever sense He is said to be seen, and created persons or things. There is all the distinction between having to do with the infinite God Himself or with some finite creature. Mystics "see" God in at least two senses. At times their infused contempla-tive knowledge of Him, which is usually obscure and general, be-comes relatively so clear and definite thht they feel it must be described as "vision" rather than, for instance, as contact. Of con-templative vision St. Thomas writes: "In contemplation God is seen through the medium which is the light of wisdom elevating the mind to perceive divine things, though not so that the divine essence itself be immediately seen" (De Veritate, XVIII, 4). In addition to this and as a particular favor in some cases contemplatives are granted special manifestations of God, or of Some of the divine at-tributes, or of the Blessed Trinity, and these they speak of as "visions of God." Thus Blessed Angela of Foligno, a great Italian mystic of the thirteenth century, describes such visions: "When the most high God cometh unto the rational soul, it is at times given her to see Him, and she seeth Him within her, without any bodily form,and she seeth Him more clearly'than one mortal man can see another; for the eyes of the soul behold¯ a fulness, spiritual not bod-ily, about which I can say nothing at all, for words and imagina-tion fail me. Moreover in this vision the s6ul is delighted with un-utterable'delight, and then she looketh at nothing else save that alone; for this it is that filleth the soul beyond all that can be reck-oned." (Visions and Instructions: ch. 52; apud Poulain, The Graces of Interior Pra~ler, p. 267.) - '. .: 3. Reoelatfons: Auu'cular, [magi'f~ative, Intellectaa[ '" ,o.Like apparitions, revelations or locutions fail into three grou.'ps; according to the faculty to wlqich they are ~mmediately addressed. Some of them include r&l external ~unds'and ate perceivM b) the ~ear. An e.xample from the New Testament is that' of,.tl-ie utterance described in. John 12:28-30. . In a-'talk ~to:~the'.p~ople_ of. Jerusalem shortly before .His: :death Jesus 'said'; ' "'Father;" save Me from. this hour!, But for thi~ very ptirpose.:.I ,came.io this : hour. Father, gl.orify Thy-name! There::came:.theret~bre.a::.Voic'e,:~out of-'heaven., !k,have 'both glorified it,. and. wil.! glorif'.y;:it~:!again.' Thecrowd,, ac~ 195 Review [or Religious cordingly, who stood by and heard it, said that it had thundered. Others said, 'An angel has spoken to Him.' Jesus addressed them and said, 'This voice has not come for My sake, but for yours.' " Other revelations are directed straight to the interior senses and are termed imaginative. In normal communic~ations between "human persons there is a double threefold process. In the speaker there is first of all thought, then formulation of it in words in the phantasy or imagination, and lastly utterance of it with the vocal orgahs. In the hearer the correspohding steps occur in the reverse order: audi-tory perception, representation in the" phantasy, and finally under-standing in the mind. When G6d, or an angel, communicates His ideas, He can skip the first act in the bearer's process and address Him~lf directly to the imagination. This is very~ probably what happened to St. Joseph when an angel of the Lord appeared to him "in a dream-vision, saying, 'Arise and take the Child and His mother, and fly to Egypt, and remain there until I tell thee; for Herod is about to hunt for the Child to destroy Him' " (Matthew 2:13). A spirit, whether divine or angelic, can also impart ideasI directly to one's intelligent:e, and thus we have purely intellectual lodutions and auditions. Lucie Chlistine (a distinguished French mystic, a woman of social position and the mother of several children: whose personal notes, written only for her director, were published under this pseudonym after her'death in 1908), says of a certain intellec-tual communication of this nature that she received: "Whilst at prayer this kind God deigned to fi!l my soul with His light and said to me interiorly: 'I myself am the glory.' . . ; The divine words. ,carry with them an ineffable unction by which the soul recognizes in some manner the voice of God. Moreover, they impress them-. selves forcibly upon the soul and operate what they utter. I had ob-served this before I read about it. These interior accents cannot bear any comparison to those words which sometimes are formed ~y the imagination." (Spiritual Journal of Lucie Christine, pp. 24-25.) 4. Special Terminology 9f St. dohn of the Cross St. John of the Cross has a classification of supernatural "lwords" and a peculiar terminology, for them that are original. Since his divisions and his ways of naming them are very often re-fer~ ed to, one .who wishes to be well-informed in the field should know them. With respect to "supernatural locutions, which are apt to come to the spirits of spiritual persons without the intervention" 196 duly, 1954 APPARITIONS AND REVELATIONS of any b~dily sense," he writes: "These, although they are of many kinds, may,. I believe, all be reduced to three, namely, successive, for-mal, and substantial" (Ascent of Mr. Carmel, II, 18; Peers's trans-lation, I, 208): "Successive words" are not really language coming from another person, as St. ,John himself explains in what immedi-atel~ follows; they are nothing more than words formed by certain people in the depths of their own personality while in a state of pro-found recollection. In.such utterances one is rather speaking to one-self. "Formal words" do come from somebody el'se, and outside of periods of recollection as well as within them. St. John adduces the example of the archangel Gabriel who spoke to the prophet Daniel about the coming of the Messiah. "O Daniel, [ am now come forth to teach thee, and that thou mightest undersand . Seventy weeks are shortened upon thy people, and upon thy holy city, that trans-gression may be finished, and sin have an end . and everlasting justice may be brought; and vision and prophecy may be fulfilled; and the saint of saints may be anointed . " (Daniel, 9:20-27.) "Substantial words" are those that promptly and vigorously effect jtist what they express; thus, for instance, if one were overwhelmed with fear and God should say, "Fear thou not!" one "would at once be con.scious of great fortitude and tranquillity" (Op. cir., I, 219) . 5. Reoelations: Public and Pr~'oate Of all the distinctions to be made between revelations the most important by all means i~ that beween public and private revela-tions. Public revelation is that which was made long ago, meant 'for mankind generally, and entrtisted to the Church.It is a primary purpose of the Church to guard, interpret, and proclaim to all the truths of this revelation. It originally came into the world from God through the prophets and especially through Christ and the Apostl'es. All other revelations are termed private., even though in par-ticular respects they may take on a very popular character. " They are indeed messages from God, or at least from some sacred person. They hre not addressed directly to the Church as such, and they never :become a part of the deposit of faith. One could not accept them ~ith "divine and Catholic faith." Certain apparitions and revelations of the Blessed Virgin cutting in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries have attained con- ~iderable importance in the 'life of the Church. The use of. the 197 AUGUSTINE G. ELLARD Reoiew for Religious Miraculous Medal goes" b~ack,: tb.'i'fii~i~earahces.~of' the Mother° of' G'6d . to-SiSt&~Catherine Labour& of the Daughters of Charity, in the year 1830 at ¯Paris. Everybody knows about Lourdes, and now also Fatima. Another case that became famous in France, but is less well known generally, is that of La Salette. Near La Salette, in eastern France, in the year 1846, two children, Melanie Calvat, a girl of fifteen, and Maximin Giraud, a boy of eleven, affirmed that they had seen "a beautiful lady" while engaged in watching some cows near a stream. They received a message from her to be con-veyed to all the lady's people. It inculcated the necessity of doing penance and of leading a good Christian life. Also each of the chil-dren was entrusted with a special secret. Eventually these secrets were transmitted to Pope Pius IX. Over this vision there raged for a considerable time a great controversy. Finally, after careful in-vestigation, it was officially approved in 1851 by the Bishop of the Diocese of Grenoble. On .the occasion of the centennial celebration it received a certain papal confirmation in a letter sent by Pope Pius XII to the Superior General of the Institute of the Missionaries of La Salette. II. FATHER STAEHLIN'S OBSERVATIONS Not lohg ago the Spanish Jesuit, Father Carlos Maria Staehlin, published in Razon y Fe (1949, vol. 139, pp. 443-464; 546-562: vol. 140, pp. 71-98) the results of an elaborate study of apparitions and revelations as they have taken place in the history of the Church during the last 150 years. 1. The Two Currents First of all, Father Staehlin points out that in this record two currents of apparitions and revelations are to be distinguished: the m~jsticaland the non-ro~lsticali The first current is observ~ible in men and women who were favored with the central phenom~hon of mysticism, that is, infused contemplation. Typically this line is exemplified in the saints, or at least in very hMy. persons of mature .age. In these people, there-fore, were to be found both a sup.erior form of mental prayer and a high degree of virtue. At times, and in some cases only, to increase their ¯intimacy with God they were .granted apparitions of various sacred persons or things. Re'velations given in connection with such apparitions are of course private, and .may also be:.,calied particular. In'th~ lives:of: the saints there occurs also at/other kind of revelation that may be termed social. It is meant mor~ for the. good of nu- 1'98 du1~,1954 APPARITIONS AND REVELATIONS merous other persons than for the advantage of the individual re-cipient. The .communications concerning the Sacred Heart made to St. Margaret Mary and those of the Blessed Virgin at Lourdes ex-emplify this social type of private revelation. 2. Apparitions to non-M~tstics The second general current comprises those cases in which the persons favored with visions are nbt mystics. Oftentimes they are children. These visions reported by non-mystics seem to be sea- ;onal, tending to occu'r in the spring and summer months, between March and October. The recipients are usually uneducated'persons; nearly always wbmen or children, and girls-~rathe~'than 'boys.When a man sees a vision he is .apt to-be in the "company of a woman;-ahd kbe sees more than he does. If the,seers be~children, one or-mbre of them often enough'has a ~ather who drinks heavily. There seems to be a certain" tendency for these apparitions to follow the la~sical type of Saint Bernadette-or the more recent pattern set by the chil-dren at Fatima. In a few cases the effect upon the religious life of the community or even of the Church has been very great: but as a rule, no matter how great the excitement at first may be, the total result is not impressive. Manifestations in which Christ appears are more often within doors, whereas those of the Blessed Virgin are more frequently ob-served in the open air. Since the time when devotion to the Sacred Heart became widespread apparitions in which Our Lord figures tend to focus upon His heart. Strangely enough, when the place is in the vicinity of the Blessed Sacrament there is usually no connec-tion between it and the apparition. The appearances of the Blessed Virgin taking place outdoors do not generally present themselves abruptly: they are introduced by some sound or sight that does not naturally fit in with the circ.umstances, but attracts attention and prepares for what is to come. ~° 3. Zones and Periods "" Looking over lists of apparitions that have been reported one can easily discern certain zones, or parts of the world, and periods of time, in which they are especially numerous. Staehlin refers to one zone, without however naming it, °embracing some twenty villages, in which there was, as it were, an epidemic outbreak of visions. In Belgium in the single year 1933 there was a comparatively large number of them; Staehlin lists the places and dates for eighteen, and says that the enumeration is far from complete. 199 AUGUSTINE G. ELLARD Reoieto for Religiou.s 4. Constellations It is also noticeable that apparitions tend to occur in constella-tions, that is, in groups with a certain unity of place, time, and sub-ject- matter. Numerous minor occurrences of this kind cluster around one that is of major importance and renown. Thus a full critical account of the origins of Lourdes would chronicle many visionaries and visions besides St. Bernadette and her experiences. She is the one whose claims have been approved, both by the Church officially and by the common assent of the faithful, and she is the only one who was canonized for her virtues. But there were other persons who reported having seen apparitions at about the same time and place. For the names of some of those who Said that they had had such visions and the places and times at which they occurred, see Staehlin, volume 139, pp. 555-56. It is said that at Fatima also there were other apparitions beside~ those to the three little shep-herds. 5. Multiplication Multiplication is another mark that Staehlin observes in his study of apparitions. Once a particular vision is recorded in the literature it is apt to be repeated. The following is an example. In Agreda, Spain, in the seventeenth century there was a Franciscan ab-bess named Maria de Jesus. Continuing the work begun by the famed visionary St. Bridget of Sweden, namely, completing the Gospel accounts from private revelations, Maria wrote the celebrated and highly controversial book called The Mystical City of God. It is a history of the life of the Blessed Virgin. .Because of its ques-tionable character the process for her beatification which had been begun was discontinued. Mother Maria recounts in great detail this incident from the passion. When Jesus had been fastened to the cross and the soldiers wished to clinch the nails, they were about to turn Him and the cross over, thus leaving Him with His face on the ground. His mother, unable to bear the thought of that additional cruelty and indignity, most earnestly besought the Eternal Father not to permit it. Accordingly He sent angels at once who supported the overturned Jesus and cross in the air above the rocky ground while the executioners hammered back the nails (Part II, Bk VI, .Chapter XXII, n. 1386). In the next century, after Mother Maria's work had become widely diffused among the. devout nuns in the convents of Spain, Sister Joan of the I.nca.~.n.~tion, of .,t.he Discalced Augustinians in 2OO July/, 1954 APPARITIONS AND REVELATIONS Murcia, had a strikingly similar vision, reported in very much the ~ame way. In our century Sister 3osefa Menendez, of the Spanish Religious of the Sacred Heart, whose book Christ's Appeal for Love i~ making her increasingly well-known just at present, also saw in a vision and reports exactly the same incident. (For the original wording in all three cases, see Razon y Fe, 1949, vol. 139, pp. 559- 560). - 6. Four Patterns It is not difficult to observe that even those apparitions which seem original or at leas.t have no particular connection in time or place tend to follow certain definite patterns. Of these Father Staeh-lin distinguishes four: namely the reformatory type, the pastoral, the innovating, and lastly one representing the passion of Christ. The first two, the reformatory and the pastoral, inasmuch as they involve prophecies regarding the future, may be termed apocalyptic. The third and fourth, introducing something new or somehow reproducing the Passion, are of a .more devout form. Apparitions falling into the reformatory pattern may be de-signed to change either religious or political conditions. In times of stress and strain in Church or state there is wont to be an excess of them. A typical apparition seeking reform in religious matters would first point out the tragedies and calamities that afflict the Church. Then the cause would be indicated, for example, the faults of the clergy and religious men and women. An exhortation would follow urging them to do. perian~e and again take up the fervent pursuit ~of virtue. Finally the happy results would be depicted in glowing colors. ~The Church and civil society are al.ways laboring under great evils or dangers of them; some reformatory movements are always in progress; some of .the troubles disappear in time; and in a few respects at least there is positive change for the better. If the prediction is not completely verified, one can invariably say either that not enough effort toward penance and amendment was made or that the rest of the prophecy is still to be fulfilled. The pasoral pattern of apparitions is the one with which we are all most familiar. Popular devout literature and th~ conversations of pious people thrive on it. Such appearances, which are said to be very numerous, tend to conform to this broad scheme: some chil-dren, playing outdoors, unexpectedly notice a sight or sound that att~rac.ts or directs their attention. Abov.e the branches of a tree or in a.~;clearj,g they notice a white feminine figure, they are addressed by 20,1: AUGUSTINE G. ELLARD . Reoiew for Religious it, am:l finallyo.tbey are invited to return to' the site on subsequent days. Soone~ or later the figure makes itself.known as the Blessed Virgin, and eventually she manifests some secret or other to the young seers. Sheoften requests that a shrine be erected there and promises a miracle to give divine assurance for everything. There is a message that is to be made public (an example, therefore, of a revelation that is private, but with a social purpose): the good should do penance and pray more for mankind. At last somethi.ng takes place which is in.terpr~ted as the miracle. Evidently the ap-paritions at Lourdes. and Fatima fire outstan, ding examples and models of this pattern. These two are also among the very, very few that have been approved and that have achieved importance. Scores, if not hundreds, of others, have created only a local or a passing stir among the people. _New devotions' are usually the object of the next, the inno-vating, type of visions. In her attitude toward these the Church is likely to be much more severe and critical, and the reason is that novel forms of religious practice very often imply notions that are wrong or dangerou.s°to the faith. In 1937 a decree against certain n6velties was issued b~" the Holy Office. "Everybody knows that such new forms of Worship and devotion, sometimes ridiculous, very often a useless imitation of similar devotions already legiti-mately established, or even a corruption of them, are. multiplled from day to day and widely propagated among the faithful in sev-eral places, especially in these latter times, to the great surprise and bitter reproach of non-Catholics" (Acta Apostolicae Sedis, XXIX, 305). It is easy for certain devout souls to feel inspired to insti-tute, say, a new scapular or a nea, v ~et of Fridays or Saturdays in honor of the~'r favorite celestial"patron. Apparitions of the fourth pattern represent the passion and crucifixion of Christ. Some of the seers who witness them are stig-matics. Anyone somewhat conversant with devotional literature will know of examples. A notable recent case is that of St. Gemma Galgani (1878;1903). So much for the observations of Father Staehlin. III. NEGATIVE TYPES 1. Diabolical Apparitions Besides apparitions or revelations from the mansions of heaven, there are of course others that come from the dungeons of the nether regions. In gent~ine cases these are really and truly supernatural in, 202 July, 1954 APPARITIONS AND REVELATIONS the sense of being beyond the possibilities of visible nature. The lives of the saints contain many instances, and therefore the sanctity of the human person concerned is no proof that his or her super-normal experiences are all good. Of these appearances some are at once and clearly diabolical; they are generally of a terrifying naturd. Others seem at first to be holy and conducive to piety, but they are always deceptive, and sooner or later manifest indications of the evil tendencies that they subserve. At'a certain period in his life and at hours when he should have been studying, St. Ignatius used to ex-perience visions that seemed to make for devotion and prayer,/but eventually he noticed that it was always at the wrong time and place, and he concluded that what he was seeing was a temptation rather than a grace, and really something designed to distract him from God's work. Besides_preternatural appearances that emanate from the evil spirits there are others also which are in reality natural, but mistakenly attributed to evil spirits. 2. Hallucinations and Illusions A distinction relevant to apparitions and revelations that is hu-miliating and unpleasant for subjects, but nevertheless of prime practical importance for their directors and everybody else who has anything to do with them, is that between authentic and apparent manifestations of the supernatural, or, in other words, between the really miraculous and hallucinations or illusions. In hallucinatio.ns one judges that he sees or hears something that is simply non-existent; there is not even a good foundation for the mistaken per-ception. Illusions are false interpretations of something that is true and objective; for example, a man suffering from delirium tremens sees a stick and takes it to be a snake. Th~se aberrations .of tile mind can in some cases have a very close resemblance to truthful judg-ments. A perfectly balanced person may be deceived in a particular case, and the most acute discerner of spirits may find it exceedingly difficult to make the appropriate distinctions with assurance. Hence the great necessity of exercising extreme precaution in pronouncing upon any occurrence that has the semblance of the supernatura~l. Not long ago a certain French doctor and psychologist wrote a study of "interior words." It was based par.ticularly upon. a num-ber of books published in recent years 'arid purporting to give pri-vate divine revelations or locutions. Of his whole investigation he gives the general conclusion as follows: "These reflections, suth as they are, allow us to see in many cases of 'interior words' a natural 2O3 AUGUSTINE G. ELLARD Review [or Religious psychological mechanism, independent (inasmuch as it is a process) of'the religious character of their content: a mechanism of projec-tion, of compensation, of mental dialogue expressed in language. The classical criteria~ conformity to the teaching of the Church, sanctity of life, quality of charity, submission to the magisterium of the Church, are evidently indispensable. It seems to me that they are not sufficient. Is it not proper to consider as well whether a natural ex'planation cannot account for them, in whole or in i0art?" (Vie Spirituelle, Supplement, May 1953, 165-175; Dr. Suzy Rousset, " 'Paroles interieures'--remarques'psychologiques.P"e)r-haps, therefore, modern psychologists and psychiatrists capnoint out the precise mechanisms and processes which explain the fact, long ago noticed by SL. 3ohn of the Cross, that a devout person may seem. to hear God speaking to him interiorly, whereas in reality the person is talking to himself through his subconsciousness. The distinguished contemporary Carmelite authority in "spir-itual theology,"' Father Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, has made a special study of visions and revelations, and published the results in a work devoted exclusively to that subject, Visions and Revelations in the Spiritual Life (1950). Toward the end of this work he em-phasizes the point that the old rules for the discernment of spirits do indeed indicate whether a movement of soul or what .seems to be an interior locution is good or bad and whether it is ultimately from the divine spirit or the diabolical spirit, but they do not enable one to judge that, if it be from God, it proceeds from Him preter-naturally rather than naturally. What appears in consciousness as a divine locution may be from God and may be a great grace, but, from these rules alone, we are n6t justified in concluding that it comes from Him in the special way characteristic of revelations in the proper sense. "In the present state of the psychological sciences, in view of data which may be reasonably expected, it must be main-tained that the mechanism of the interior voice may sometimes be natural. Unless we succeed in disproving this hypothesis, we can-not cor~clude that God has certainly intervened" (p. 119). A devout soul can write a whole book, all of it most excellent spiritual doc-trine and seemingly dictated to the writer by God h'imself. It can be most conducive to one's advance in sanctity, or to that of others. Nevertheless the whole product may be really due tO the processes of nature and grace, and may not require any miraculous intervention from God. ,204 duly, 1954 BEATIFICATIONS, 1951 -I 952 3. Fraudulent Reports In addition to genuine apparitions there are some that are simply fraudulent. A person may gain notice and admiration and perhaps even many other advantages by acquiring the reputation of being in direct and supernatural communication with the powers of heaven. Moreover prestige and profit may accrue to places where appari-tions have been reported, and men seeing the commercial possibili-ties may, in good or bad faith, help promote the popular interest and excitement. A subsequent paper will consider certain practical problems that arise when one has become, or at least seems to have become, the re-cipient of apparitions and revelations, and also when one reads about those that are said to have been granted to other persons¯ E eatit:icatlons, 1951-1952 Pope Pi~s X, who was solemnly canonized, May 29. 1954, was born in 1835, died in 1914. He was the first Pope since St. Pius V (died, 1572: beatified, 1671: canonized, 1710) to be raised to the honors of the altar. An account of the pontificate of Pius X, as well as a table of important dates, was published in the May, 1954, number of the REVIEW (pp. 114-24). This account, written by the Archbishop of Madurai, was first published shortly after the beatifi-cation of Pius X, which took place on June 3, 1951. On the occa-sion of the beatification, Pope Pius XII said of his blessed predeces-sor .' "Through his person and through his work God wished to pre-pare His Church for the new and arduous tasks that awaited bet in the troublous future; to prepare in time a Church at one in doctrine, firm in discipline, et~icient in her pastors; a generous laity, a people well instructed: a youth sar~ctified from its first years; a Christian conscience alert to the proble, ms of social life. "If today the Church ofI God, so far from retreating before the forces that would 'destroy all spiritual values, suffers and fights, and through dlvlne help advances and redeems, it is due in great part to the far-seeing action and the holiness of Plus X. Today it has be-come clear thSt his whole pontificate was directed according to a divine plan of love and redemption, to prepare souls for the very 205 BEATIFICATIONS, 1951 - 1.952 struggles we are facing, and to ensure victory for us and for the fu-ture." The foregoing translation is taken from The Clerg~t Monthlt.t, XVI (duly, 1952), 227. We are indebted to the same publication for the following accounts of others who were beatified in 1951; also of those beatified in 1952. Blessed Atberic Cresc[telli: born, 1863: died, 1900; beatified, Feb. 18, 1951. Of the Foreign Missions of Milan. He was cruelly martyred during the Boxer rising after twelve years of self-sacrificing work in the China mission. In his case, as in other cases, the Holy Father remarked, "Martyrdom is but the cr6wning of an entire life of daily heroism and of continual compliance with the will of God." Blessed Francis Anton{ Fasani: born, 1681; died, 1742; beati-fied, April 15, 1951. A Franciscan Conventual priest. He spent thirty-five years in his native town of Lucera, 'teaching the young friars and then governing the convent and the province of his order, combining with these offices an intense apostolic and charitable ac-tivity. He liked to recall his humble origin, and among the poor who crowded the door of the convent for their daily bowl of soup, with filial respect and love he acknowledged his mother, "the poor Isabella." Blessed Joseph Diaz Sanjurjo, O.P., and tuaent~l-four coropan-ions. Beatified, April 29, 1951. In Tonkin, during the bloody persecution of 1856-1862 under Tu-Duc, thousands of Christians were cruelly tortured and put to death. One group of four was beati-fied by Pius X on April 15, 1906. The cause of another 1,288 was introduced in 1917; and from among these a first group of 25 has now been beatified: 2 bishops (Spanish Dominicans), 4 native priests (2 Dominicans and 2 Tertiaries of St. Dominic), and .19 Christians of every class of society. Blessed Placide Viel: born, 1815; died, 1877; beatified, May 6, 1951. One is deeply struck, said the Holy Father on the occasion of her beatification, by "the contrast between the temperament, the character, the antecedents of this little peasant girl--shy, awkward, without instruction, without the least experience of life in the world --and her career of exceptional, not to say unique, activity." Out of seemingly unpromising material God's grace fashioned an out-standing personality. Placide Viel was the daughter of a Norman farmer. When eighteen, she joined the young and struggling Congregation of the (Contin.ued on Page 214) 206 Spirit:ual Opia!:es Joseph P. Fisher, S.J. TWO of the most fundament.al and most consol!ng truths of the spiritual life are that the will of God is man s peace and that the providence of God is most loving. Practical acceptance and living out of these truths has brought and will bring many to holi-ness. There can be no sanctity where a person has no "devotion" to the will of God and little trust in divine providence. While all this is true, there is another side to the question, as there is to mbst questions. And this "other side of the question" has some impor-tant relevance to both the private and social lives of religious. Wrong understanding of these great truths can bring about great personal and great public harm. The pagan Lucretius in that terrible line, "so great a mass of evils has religion been able to foist upon ~nan-kind," fixed in a few words the awful effect of religion gone bad. Perhaps it would be well to listen to a pagan, ancient or modern, present his picture of a Christian and the will of God. -Thus then would our pagan speak: "If Christians live according to the faith that is in them, for them the will of God is the end of life. In all things great and small a Christian must love and do God's will and bear patiently whatever God allows to come into his life. If he is sick, that is God's will and he must bear sickness patiently and even gladly if possible. If there is a drought and the crops fail, that too is God's will and a true Christian must bear it without complaint. If in God's providence a man has been born into a poor family, that is for his best and he should worship the strange ways of divine provi-dence. If a working man cannot find employment, that is God's will and he must submit humbly--remembering that God cares for the birds of the air and the lilies of the field. If taxes are high and there is much corruption in government and unequal distribution of wealth, God has permitted these things, and His will must be rev-erenced. If the children are starving and the wife is sick and there is no opportunity for work, God has seen fit to allow that and man must meekly accept His will." Truly religion thus pictured is the opium of the people. Man~s urge for ~elf-preservation, for the advancement of his family, for his well-being in this life is stifled. He is made the pawn of priests, 207 JOSEPH [9. FISHER Review for Religious he is made a slave of inaction. Religion;has bound him hand and foot and made him a completely useless citizen of the state. We may now imagine an objector adapting the above picture to fit a religio,us more directly. To a religious God's will is especially dear. It should be his meat and drink. Only by complete aban-donment to the divine will can he lead his life as he should and reach' sanctity. Heshould hav~ ~o desire of his own but should will only what God wills. When he has come to such conformity, then only will he have true peace. So when sickness comes, em-brace it patiently, eagerly. It is a dear possession. Hold on to it as to a loving gift from God. Become a victim of the divine good pleasure. When failure comes, do not run from it; it is God's will and hence a blessing. When you are misunderstood, called to task unjustly, do not complain; this is God's will. Adhere to it. No matter what comes into your life, ~t is God's will. Be satisfied with it and it will sanctify you. The consequence of carrying out the foregoing "ideal" to its logical conclusion would be this: a sick religious holds on to his sickness as the will of God and does not try to rid himself of it; a struggling religious sees impending fdilure coming and welcomes it as God's will; a sincere religious finds himself the subject of petty persecution and, convinced it is God's will that he bear it, does so, when it is driving him to distraction. Even if the ordinary Catholic and ordinary religious do not see the speculative answer to the difficulty just proposed, in practice they solve it for the most part themselves. But it would be well if they understood the theory too. Certainly it is God's will that a Christia~i accept with patient resignation his lot as a poor man, the sickness of his children and wife, the lack of employment and such-like hardship. That is one thing. But it is quite another to give the impression that he may not and even ought not do something about righting the situation. To speak as if the .will of God ends with patience and resignation under adverse circumstances is to make something of a caricature of the divine will. It may be presumed that God wants something done about an unjust condition. If unscrupulous men have by their c~imes forced a man into an unjust condition, far fr(~m its being true that he ought to be content to re-main in such a condition, the man may be bound in conscience to do what he can to right the wrong. The truth then is this: in such cases a man has to accept with patience and resignation the existing condition as at least permitted by God, but he has to work with en- 208 Julq, 1954 SPIRITUAL OPIATES ergy to bring about the just order which God primarily wills. So the mark of the true Christian is not to accept willy-nilly whatever untoward event the providence of God allows to befall him, and to rest there; but rather, even while conformed to the divine will, calmly to set about bettering the situation when that can be done. There is plenty of room for the practical application of this prin-ciple in our modern world, where there are many cases of unjust and inhuman living conditions that call for reform. As for the religi6us, certainly he ought to hold the will of God dear. And certainly he ought to become as conformed as possible to the Will of God. But he ought to know what is and what is not the will of God. God's will is not necessarily that he remain sick if he becomes sick. When he is sick, of course he ought to see in this illness God's will and endure it patiently, but he also ought to realize that it may be God's will that he use some means to insure recovery. If he has a rule--as most religious have--to the effect that he should take proper care of his health, then this would indi-cate God's will in the matter. And certainly superiors consider it understood that their subjects do what they reasonably can to pre-serve their b~alth and to retrieve it as far as possible when it is lost. This again is an expression of God's will. The same principle holds in the case of failure and blame. A good religious accepts in a spirit of resignation such trials permitted by God but it is often clear that the same divin~ will wants the re-ligious to do something about rising from the failure or removing the blame. One's vocational-ideal is the surest means of diagnosing, so to speak, the divine will in any particular matter. What my vocation demands of me, that for me is clearly God's will. It hardly has to be pointed out that the conception of divine providence implied in the objection given above is faulty. There are plenty of people who think of the providence of God as a guarantee of an easy way through life here on earth. One will be able to live, 'they dream, as the birds of the air and the lilies of the field. God's providence will ward off financial difficulties, sickness, death of the young--all th~ hard things of life that test a man's belief and hope in God. To see their mistake, these people need only to consider. God's plan for human life, rather than their own imaginings as to what it is to be. A frequently repeated illustration will make the point clear. A provident father is not one who gives his child all he asks or all the child thinks is for his good. Children, even older children, frequently have a very poor idea about what serves' their 2O9 aosi~p~t p. Fis~ true good. A young child might want to play with a sharp, shiny knife, but no one would consider the father good who gave in to the child, no matter what kind of squall was raised. Children used to dislike school. Even though they raised a fuss and said their parents and teachers were cruel, a good father, foreseeing their needs be~ter than they, would insist that they continue their schooling. Tb'e father knows the end in mind and he knows the means to the end. And frequently the best means are the most repellent to the young. In this, grown men and women are often like children. God their Father knows better than they the end of human life and the best means to get there. Frequently these means look very harsh to God's children, but our good Father does not let this deter Him from doing what is really best for His sons and daughters. God wants our true good more than we do ourselves and He knows what it is and how to obtain it. Trust in His directing and loving providence is the only proper attitude on our part. God's providence over men is, therefore, not apampering provi-dence. Rather it is strong and it demands strength. We are taught this in the life of Our Lord when He was tempted by the devil, first to a distrust of divine providence--"command that these stones be made bread": and then to a rash and presumptuous demand 'on providence--"throw thyself down." Our Lord's answer to Satan teaches us the proper balance in,our attitude toward divine provi-dence: "Not by bread alone does man live"--man's end is not temporal but eternal: God provides what eventually best leads to our eternal happiness. Hence we must trust that all things work unto good for those who love God. "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God"--we should not presume on divine providence according to our own ideas of what is good for us. Such presumption would surely lead to disappointm.ent and distrust and at first to lack of private enterprise and then to trust of self alone. Only, therefore, when the Catholic doctrine on the will of God and providence is misunderstood and exaggerated does it make spir-itual opiates of these truths. Religious obviously in their own lives and in their dealings with externs should be mindful of these very consoling doctrines, but mindful in such a way that they do not give a basis to critics for the charge that the doctrines stifle the true life of man. Rather they should evidence by their lives that these great truths are springs of life more abundant. 210 To All t:he Saint:s in No-Man's Land George Byrne, S.J. W~E CANNOT imagine a bishop in our days addressing a letter to "All the saints that are in Chicago"! St. Paul would" have done it; indeed, be might more reasonably have ex-pected to find them in Chicago than in pagan Rome "delivered up to shameful affections." Yet to us the word "saints" suggests a no-man's land, reached by hardy explorers and possessing a climate of rarefied atmosphere, which only men of superhuman constitution can breathe. Doesn't the Church reserve the title for her heroes and look for miracles to confirm her choice? There must be a misunderstanding somewhere. Either St. Paul was using a little flattery, like the politician appealing to the "keen intelligence" of a stupid crowd, or we have failed to grasp his meaning. We may at once admit our failure: flattery was not a Pauline weapon. He knew what man .was: but he had a clear vision of what man should, and could, be: "To all that are at Rome ¯ . . called to be saints." On the one hand St. Paul might quarrel with our title, in "No- Man's Land," insisting that it should be "Every-Man's Land"; on the other hand, he could accept it, as true to his own words to the Ephesians: "He chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and unspotted in His sight in charity." The choice was made in "No-Man's Land." It was made in God's kingdom: "In the Father's house of many mansions"; in the climate of "pure love," an atmosphere truly so devoid of all breath of dis-ordered self-love that no man could live there if not strengthened by a power more than human: "for man shall not see Me [God] and live." Plato and Lo~e Not one of us would say to a friend, "You are unlovable, as you are incapable of love." Does any young couple, pledging a love "till death do us part," think for a moment that they do not know what it is to love? Yet the divorce courts are a sad witness to their ignorance. Love is a beautiful thing, a strong thing. It is not pas-sion, a fitful outburst to grasp for self the pleasure of a passing urge. ,211 GEORGE BYRNE Reoieto t~or Religious "Love is as strong ag dearth . . . many waters cannot quench love." In spite of his cold intellectual outlook, Plato did not fail to see the elevating power of love, even amongst his crude pagan gods. In his Symposium (197) he, wrote: "He whom love touches walks not in darkness . . . Love set in order the empire of the gods--the love of beauty, as is evident, for with deformity Love has no concern. In days of old, as I said, dreadful, deeds were done among the gods, for they were ruled b.y Necessity, but now since the birth of Love, and from Love of the beautiful, has sprung every good in heaven and earth. Therefore, Phaedrus, I say of Love that He is the fairest and best in himself, and the cause of what is fairest and best in all othe~ things . . . He is our lord, who sends cou, rtesy and sends away discourtesy, who gives kindness ever and never gives unkindness; the friend of the good, the wonder of the wise, the amazement of the gods; desired by those who have no part in him; parent of delicacy, luxury, desire, soft-ness, grace, regardful of the good, regardless of the evil . . . glory of god and men, leader best and brightest, in whose footsteps let every man follow, sweetly singing in his honour and joining in that sweet strain with which Love charms the souls of gods and men." As we .read the words of the tSagan philosopher, we approve. We can even fancy that a fold of Love's mantle rests on us. Even "those who have no part in him," as Plato said, desire him. No one is willing to admit that Love has no message for him, or that Love's message is Utopian! Sainthood and Love Why, then. is the call to "Sainthood" treated.as if it were a call to Starland, where ordinary mortals cannot dwell? It is so treated: we have only to suggest that Tdm or Harry, down the street, are, "holy," to draw a smile, in which Tom and Harrywould be the first' sharers. Yet they would be the first to resent being called un- Christian, or being taxed with lovelessness. They, and those who, with them, call themselves "ordinary Christians" forget that' a call to."ordinary" Christian life is not the Master's call. "Be ye perfect,~ as your heavenly Father is perfect," is addressed to all. The re-ligious life is called a "state of perfection" because, on the negative side, many obstacles found in the world are removed; and, above all, on the positive side, every means is at our disposal "to develop the supernatural life in our souls. The great variety of religious congregations in the Church is determined by the nature of the 212 dul~t, 1954 To SAINTS IN NO-MAN'S LAND work to be accomplished for the Kingdom of God and the different talents of the workers. But all religious.congregations pu~ love, true charity, in the foreground. In the words of St. Ignatius, "the interior law of charity and love" must be the animating principle of every religious constitution. Without the inner working of the Holy Spirit of Love, - external rules couldlead only to formalism. In God's creative plan, Iove and sainthood are identified. Let us repeat St. Paul's text: "He chose us in him [i.e., in Christ] before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and unspotted in His sight in charity.". St. John puts it more emphatically: "Every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God: for God is charity." "'Love IS His Meaning" In one of the mo~t beautiful books written, Revelations of Divine Love, Juliana of Norwich, tells us that the afiswer to her query of the meaning of all was: "Wouldst thou witten the Lord's meaning in this thing? Wit it well: Love was his meaning. Who shewed it to thee? Love. What shewed He thee? Love. Where-fore shewed it He? For Love. What shewed He thee? Love. Wherefore shewed it He? For Love. : . .And I saw full surely in this and in all, that ere God mhde us He loved us.~ .In this love our' life is everlasting. In our making we had a beginning; but the love wherein He made us was in Him from without beginning: in which love we have our beginning." Our earliest catechism lesson taught us that we are made to the "image of God." Perhaps the lessons passed all too quickly to "duty" as the rule of life. There were the commandments--only ten; but, as we turned the pages, the details grew; and our young lives seemed hemmed in by a solid hedge of "don'ts." A doctor of the law captiously .asked Christ: "Which is the great command-ment?" He little expected the answer: there is really only one-- Love, reaching to heaven, and pouring itself out on earth. The greatness of man is being an image of God; the image of God is in his soul. In what ultimately is greatness of soul found? St. Jerome aptly drew the distinction between philosophy and re-ligion. "Plato," he said, "located the soul of man in the head; Christ located it in the heart." In a word w~e have the difference between the "clever" man and the "saint." Few can be outstanding as philosophers; there is no limit'to growth in love. The.Immacu-late Mother mounted the hill of Calvary with Mary Magdalen; the_ 213 ' BEATIFICATIONS, 19 5 1 - 1 9 5 2 Review/:or Religious peniten't thief confessed, with St. John, that God is Love. At first sight it might seem that the type of sanctity is different in different religious institutes: for example, that a Carmelite recluse has little in common with a nursing, or teaching, sister. This view is clea~ly superficial. Their duties are different, but for all, love is the soul of their sanctity; and they may happily kneel side by side at the altar rail to receive into their hearts the Heart of Love. To be truly religious and not to love is unthinkable. BEATIFICATIONS, 19S1-1952 (Continued from Page 206) Sisters of the Christian Schools and was trained by the holy foun-dress, St. Marie Madeleine Postel (canonized in 1925). With prophetic insight the foundress recognized the latent gifts of the young religious and made her the assistant general at. the age of twenty-five. Six years later, when the foundress died (1846), Placide was elected to succeed her. For thirty years she governed this institute with remarkable efficiency--a most able organizer, a gifted educationist, a religious superior of fine tact and heroic pa-tience and humility. Blessed Julian Maunoir, S.d.: born, 1606 ; died 1683 ; beatified, May 20, 1951. "The Apostle of Brittany." During forty-two years he preached popular missions t~hroughout Brittany, at that time spiritually very neglected, and trained numerous priests for the same work. His incredible labors resulted in a deep religious trans-formation of that country. His life and work, said Pope Pius XII, are a lesson of optimism. His remarkable missionary methods are worth s{udying even today (teamwork, instruction.s and sermons, songs and pictures, processions, retreats for the elite.). Blessed Marie Th&&e Couderc: born, 1805 ; died, ~1885 ; beati-fied, Nov. 4, 1951. ~A slmple peasant girl, she became,the foun-dress of the Institute of the Cenacle (1827)~, whose aim is to give the Spiritual Exercises to women of every class. Through a series of misunderstandings, she was deposed from her office of superior and spent the last fifty years of her life in obscurity, heroic humility, and patience. In 1952 the Cenacle had 2,000 members in Europe and America. Blessed Rosa Venerini: born, 1656; died, 1728; beatified, May 4, 1952. As a girl she gathered poor children to teach them their 214 BEATIFICATIONS, 1951 - 195 2 prayers and Christian doctrine and thus gradually came to found the institute of Maestre Pfe, which today has some fifty establish-ments in Italy and North America. At first her work was regarded, as an innovation and met with man}, obstacles. One objection Rosa and her companions had to face was that women had no right to teach Christian doctrine, since it was to men that Christ had said, "He who heareth you, heareth me." Blessed Raffaela Porras (Raffaela-Maria of the Sacred Heart): born, 1850; died, 1925; beatified, May 18, 1952. Together with. her elder sister Dolores she founded in Madrid the Handmaids of the Sacred Heart. At forty-three she was prevailed upon by her critics to retire from the government of her institute as incapable; the opposi-tion party was led by her own sister, who succeeded her as superior general. She spent the rest of her life, 32 years, in obscurity and suffering: painful but fruitful years. Her institute at present counts fifty-six houses in Europe, America, and Japan. Blessed Marfa-Bertflla Boscardfn: born, 1888; died, 1922; be- "atified, dune 8, 1952. Born of poor Italian farmers and seemingly little gifted, she was a real Cinderella at home, at school, and after-wards in the Institute of the Sisters of St. Dorothea, which sh~ joined at seventeen. But she revealed herself a most devoted and skillful nurse and for most of her religious life she worked in the hospital of .Treviso, where she spent herself in the care of the sick and (during the first World War) of the wounded soldiers. Though suffering herself from a serious disease, she continued her service till obedience obliged her to undergo an operation: but it was too late and she died at the age of thirty-four. Often misjudged by her superiors, she w, as venerated by doctors and patients, and the cause of her beatification was taken up soon after her death. She was extraordinarily humble, the catechism was her favorite book, and the way she chose to follow was the most ordinary way, the via dei card (cart road), as she put it. She prayed that she might "rather die than do a single action in order to b,e seen." Anthon~t-MarV Pucci: born, 1819; died, 1892; beatified, June 22, 1952. He was moved by his devotion to Mary to jbin the Or-der of Servites. After his ordination he was sent to Viareggio in Tuscany where he worked first as curate for three years, and then as parish priest for 46 years, till his death. In this office he showed himself really "another Christ"; in him, the Holy Father said, "~e can contemplate an authentic image of the divine Redeemer." 215 NEW CONGREGATIONS Review for Religious "The Gospel teaches that there is a powerful grace of sanctifica-tion for priests, Obtained by the merits and prayer of Jesus Christ. Did He not ask the Father, in His sacerdotal prayer (JolSn 17: 17- 19) to sanctify them in the truth, as he was offering Himself as a 'victim in a sacrifice for them? The grace of the Catholic priesthood has, since nearly twenty centuries, produced incomparable fruits in every country of the world, and tl~e number of Saints endowed with the priestly character is constantly.growing . . . There is nothing greater on earth tban a holy priest." Blessed Anthony-Mary is for all priests "a luminous example in the exercise of the sacred ministry." His whole life was a sermon "because there was perfect agreement between his words and his ac-tions."' His self-devotion to his flock--in teaching Christian doc-trine,, spending long hours in the confessional, guiding ~he young,' and especially in helping the sick during a terrible cholera epidemic --was admirable and conquered all hearts, thougb it was a time of strong anticlericalism. But he "was not content with his own indi-vidual action"; he became a precursor of modern Catholic Action by establishing associations for every category of his parishioners-- children and adolescents, men and women--whom he imbued with his own zeal. He also founded the Institute of the Servants of Mary, a nursery of catechists and teachers. He started societies of St. Vincent de Paul (which were still new at that time), and open-ed the first seaside hor~e for poor sickly children. New Congregat:ions The Sisters, Home Visitor.s 0'f Mary.have the special apostolate of convert work among Negroes. This community was organized four years ago in Detroit under,the patronage of Edward Cardinal ~Mooney. The sisters teach religion to boys and girls who attend the public schools and to adults; they also conduct recreational pro-grams, plan clinics, conduct classes in home making and home nursing, and carry out other social . service activities. Their mother house is at 356 Arden Park, Detroit 2, Michigan. .The habit is a simple navy blue dress, coat, and hit in present-day style. , The Sons of Mary, Health of the Sick will specialize in medical and catechetical work for the missions and will train many of the 216 dul~ , 1954 NEW CONGREGATIONS Catholic natives to be nurse-catechists. This congregation of brothers was founded by Father Edward F. Gareschd. The novitiate was established at Sylva Maria, Framingham, Massachusetts, with the encouragement and help of. Archbishop Cushing. The habit is of dark blue with a dark blue cord around the waist; a rosary with white beads hangs.from~ the cord. Not exactly new-is the congregation of Dominican Rural Mis-sionaries. This institute was f~unded in France and was affiliated with the Dominican Order in 1932. At that time they numbered 20. They'now number 427, with 69 houses (65 in France, 1 in Switzerland, 1 in Canada, and 2 in the United States). The houses in this country are in Louisiana, ~where tile first was opened in 1951. The sisters are dedicated,to the spiritual welfare of the people of the rural areas, especially within the framework of the parish, and without distinction of race, color, or creed. Further information about this congregation may be obtained from Mother Marie St. Paul, O.P., Convent of the Epiphany, Gross Tete, Louisiana. CONGRESS IN BUENOS AIRES An international congress on the states of perfection was held in Buenos Aires, March 3-11, 1954. The Sacred Congregation of Religious convoked the co~gress and sent a delegation headed by its secretary, Father Arcadio Larraona, C.M.F. The Cardinal Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Dr. Santiago L. Copello, presided at the ~ongress; Father Larraona was its general director. Since the congress' was on the ':states of perfection,~' it included not only religious but also others who are dedicated to the quest of evangelical perfection, such as members of secular insti-tutes. There were representatives from Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay. COMMENTARY ON LITTLE OFFICE ~ Father John J. Kugler, S.D.B. is the author of A Commenta(y on the New Little Ottice. The book contains parallel columns of the new Latin version of the Psalms and an English translation; also verse-by-verse notes on the Psalms, and a liturgical explanation of each hour. This book should be very helpful to reli-gious who are using the Little Office with the new version of the. Psalms. It should be noted, however, that this is not the new edition of the Little Office which was described by Father Ellis in a recent article (REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, XIII [May~ 1954], 149). Father Kugler's book refers to the standard edition of the Little Office with the new version of the Psalms. The price of the book is $2.00. It may be obtained from: Salesiana Publishers, 202 Union Ave., Pater-son 2, N.J. 217 uesffons Answers --22- Have you any advice for a nun who thinks that God has begun to fa-vor her with mvstical graces and who cannot find any priest to direct If it be simply impossible to get direction from some competent person, read something that is to the point. Probably the best brief., treatise in English is the relevant part of Tanquerey, The Spiritual Life, pp. 637-740. An excellent work on prayer is Lehodey, The Wags of Mental Prager. Much the most thorough-going book on the direction ~'f mystics is Poulain, The Graces of Interior Prager (enlarged edition, 1950). This last book would hardly be suitable for self-direction for many people with less education; they would find it overwhelming and confusing, rather tfian enlightening and helpful. All the general principles of Catholic asceticism apply to mys-tics; in fact, they apply to them more fully and strictly. Souls fa-vored by God with greater graces should be more eager to love Him with all their hearts, to keep all the divine precepts and counsels, to be quite mortified, observant, zealous, and so on with all the virtues. If the Holy Spirit seems to be inviting one to a simpler, more passive, form of prayer, ~nd if, all things considered, it appears to be more promising than any other that one-could Eursue, then" one should give oneself up to

Issue 13.5 of the Review for Religious, 1954. ; Review for Religious SEPTEMBER 15, 1954 Study and the Spiritual Life . John R. Post The World Around Us . John H. Ziegler Pilgrims on theRoad to Love . George Byrne Secular Institutes . Francls N. Korfh Book Reviews Questions and Answers Quinquennial Report VOLUMI~ XIII NUMBER 5 RI::VII::W FOR RI:LI IOUS VOLUME XIII SEPTEMBER, 1954 NUMBER 5 CONTENTS BLENDING STUDY WITH THE SPIRITUAL LIFE--John R. Post, S.d. 225 OUR ADDRESSES . 233 THE WORLD AROUND US--John H. Ziegler, C.S.P . 234 COMMUNICATIONS . 239 FOR YOUR INFORMATION . 240 PILGRIMS ON THE ROAD TO LOVE--George Byrne, S.J .2.4.1 OUR CONTRIBUTORS . 244 SECULAR INSTITUTES: SOME QUESTIONS--Francis N. Korth, S.2J.45 PAMPHLETS . , . . . 250 MARIAN YEAR PLAY . 250 QUINQUENNIAL REPORT (By Nonfederated Autonomous Houses and Monhsterles) . 251 REGIONAL CONFERENCES AND WORKSHOPS .2.6.9 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS-- 26. Little Office during Mass . 270 27. Confession without Verbal Act of Contrition . 270 28. Drinking Water before Communion . 271 29. Confession before Communion . 271 30. Communion when Mortal Sin is Doubtful . 272 BOOK REVIEWS-- The N~w Testament; The Church and Infallibility; Mary in Our Life . 273 BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS . 278 NOTICE FOR PUBLISHERS . 280 REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, September, 1954. Vol. XIII, No. 5. Published bi-monthly : January, March, May, July, September, and November at the College Press, 606 Harrison Street, Topeka, Kansas, by St. Mary's College, St. Marys, Kansas, with ecclesiastical approbation. Entered as second class matter ,lannary 15, 1942, at the Post Office, under the act of March 3, 1879. Editorial Board: Augustine G. E!lard, S.J., Adam C. Ellis, S.J., Gerald Kelly, S.J., Francis N. Korth, S.J. Copyright, 1954, by Adam C. Ellis, S.J. Permission is hereby granted for quota-tions of reasonable length, provided due credit be given this review and the author. Subscription price: 3 dollars a year; 50 cents a copy. Printed in U. S. A. Before writing to us. please consult notice on Inside back cover. / Blending St:udy wit:h t:he Spiri!:ual Lit:e John R. Post, S.J. MANY young religious who are preparing for the priesthood must spend eigh~ or ten years in the quiet of a seminary be-fore they are confronted with actual work for souls. During that time they look forward with great eagerness to a busy minis-try; but when it comes, it often comes with something of a shock to their interior life. Why is this? The answer seems to be that now for the first time they have had to face up to the age-old problem of blending the active with the contemplative life. A certain amount of shock from this problem is inevitable, as it is in every new ex-perience to be worked out by themselves; but some help can be given them to soften the shock if during their seminary days they are taught to solve another problem, or rather, the same problem on a smaller scale, namely, how to blend the life of study with the spir-itual life. One young student, for instance, finds himself in this frame of mifid: in the morning he offers up to God all his p~ayers, works (studies included), and sufferings, and then is content if during the day he can keep his life of study from interfering with his life of prayer. The most he asks is that study and prayer just keep running in parallel lanes like two runners on a track. Another sees the pursiait of knowledge as a help to perfection, and'so, being a sensible religious, he determines to make the two desires fuse or blend into one organic whole. With him the life of study and the life of prayer, while really distifict, penetrate and help each other just as the soul does the body. T, he second theory will be explained in this article, which, though tailored to suit the'cleric, can, it is hoped, with a tuck and a hem be made to fit the student sister and brother as well. As with the problem of the active ministry, sb too here, the so-lution lies in the interpenetration of motives. In the years of for-mation the young men must learn two things: first, to study their Latin and Greek, their philosophy and theology, with an earnest intention of progressing in the service of God; then, to pray with an ardent desire to advance in the studies in which they are engaged. For, although the time set aside for spiritual duties is generally dis- 225 JOHN R. POST Review for Religious tinct from that given to studies, still the service of God should be made the predominant and actual motive in both. The theory, then, can be summed up in two phrases of St. Ignatius: "Let [scho-lastics] strive to have a right intention in their studies".and. "in their prayers let them frequently beg for the grace of knowl-edge." That is the theory, but some eager student might ask: "How in practice would you go about preparing an assignment in G~:eek or theology and at the same time maintain this right intention? In other words, tell us how each particular branch of our studies can be made.to help our spiritual lives and how our spiritual lives can at the same time help our studies." This is a rather large order, but let me try to fill it. To begin with, then, in practice a man blends his studies with his spiritual life simply by choosing a virtuous intention to keep working in class or at his desk. Seize upon some honest motive or motives from the many that are available, let those motives draw your mind into the heart of the matter and keep it there, and they will turn that hour of class or study into an hour of obedience, of zeal for souls, or of any other virtue. Some motives, it is true, are higher and more meritorious than others; some are more effective in stimulating the desire to learn; but every intention, provided it be virtuous and supernatural, is a "right intention" in the sense in which spiritual writers use the expression. And this leads to the consideration of a most fundamental and essential virtue in the whole life of study--the virtue of studiositas. St. Thomas, who ought to know, defines studiositas, or zeal for knowledge, as a moral virtue which stimulates and controls a man's curiosity. According to him a student, to be a student at all, must be curious. He must come to his books hungry to learn, with a hun-dred questions in his mind begging to be answered. "How did Cicero and St. 3erome express a concessive clause in Latin? What is that slight difference in meaning between quarnquarn and quarnois? I wonder how this particular clause in English would look dressed up in perfect Latin idiom." And so on and so on. These are the questions real students of Latin ask themselves, ask their books and the teachers because they want to know. It is studiositas, then, that makes the life of sudy. Other higher and more supernatural motives may be used to elevate this virtue, but none can take its place. No one can be a student without it. St. Thomas Aquinas, who was 226 September, 1954 STUDY AND SPIRITUAL LIFE both saint and scholar, prayed God to keep this natural curiosity of his ever alive. "Grant, I beseech Thee, O merciful God, that I may ardently desire, prudently inquire, .truthfully understand and per-fectly fulfill what is pleasing to Thee." These last words of the saint give us a glimpse into his inner life and show us how he blended his life of studies with his spiritual life. "May I ardently desire . . . what is pleasing to Thee." Thomas Aquinas, prince and patron of all students, was first of all as curi-ous as ever a man could be, curious about Aristotle and Cicero, about the nature of man and the world about him. And he never lost his curiosity. His Summa Tbeotogica alone contains some 4,000 questions. Yet, his natural love for knowledge was con-trolled and intensified, not lessened, by his love for the will of God declared to him by his superiors. "May I ardently desire . . . what is pleasing to Thee," he says. Besides the motive of stddiositas, therefore, two other motives attracted him to his studies, the motives of obedience and 'of charity. He was curious first because he natu-rally loved the truth which he found in a book of Aristotle; and he became more curious because he knew that God wanted him to study this book of Aristotle; and most curious because he knew that he would please God by studying Aristotle. By these means, then, his study became triply fascinating to St. Thomas. Two high motives drawn from his spiritual life combined with a natural motive and all three blending together drew his mind to the study of one and the same work. So, the blending of which we speak is the blending of a supernatural desire, or desires, with the natural desire of studiositas. The motives of obedience and charity, which we have just toudhed upon, are, I suppose, the easiest for the average religious to manage throughout his course and at the same time the most meri-torious. Another which can blend with all branches of his study is the motive for zeal for souls. In all the studies which the Church has arranged with admirable foresight and wisdom, there is a verti-cal intention which looks up from the different subjects to be studied, rising step by step from the elements of Latin and Greek grammar right up to theology, and based on the following chain of reasoning: the better prepared I am in the,lower subjects, the better grasp will I also have of sacred doctrine and so be the better equipped to preach the word of God to others. This is one way of looking at the course and drawing from the apostolate at the top a greater attraction for all the studies which lead up to it. But, even on the lower levels-- 227 JOHN R. POST Ret~iew /'or Religious that is to say," while one is studying Latin and Greek and philosophy --there is room for a horizontal intention of putting this very matter to good use for souls. I mean the apostolate of the class-room. In teaching orders especially, in which a large percentage of each province is engaged in the work of education, superiors and students alike are forced to think of their houses of study as normal schools and of the time of studies as a period of training for future teachers and professors. The novice who is studying the different uses of the Greek dative should remind himself that he may be teaching that very same lesson one day in any one of the order's schools. Students of the humanities and of philosophy will be given greater motivation if they are told from time to time how many of their religious brethren are teaching those subjects in the colleges. Theologians know that every priest is teaching theology in one way or another, either in the classroom, or in the pulpit or in the confessional. Thus, the teaching vocation provides a specia! in-centive for applying oneself with greater vigor to that part of the course in which one is now engaged. At this point I would like to pause and answer a question that must be bothering the reader as all these different motives (and we haven't come to the end of them yet) are being passed in review be-fore him. The quesion might be phrased as follows: How is it pos-sible to keep all these motives in mind at once? To increase in knowledge, to obey God, to please God, to teach others--how can one manage them psychologically? The answer is that is one is not obliged to use them all. To blend a life of study with the spiritual life, only two are required, the motive of studiositas and one other. But, if. others are used, only that of studiositas is to be kept in the front of the mind, while the others are lined up behind it as ulterior motives--just as in arranging a hand of cards you keep only one in the foreground in full view while all the others are held behind it peeking out a little over the edge. Does that mean that God will have to "take a back seat" to ablative absolutes or ens ut sic? Yes, at least while one is studying ablative absolutes or ens ut sic. Or, to put it another way, God Himself tells you to study and.by so doing He "takes a back seat" for Himself, always continuing, however, to occupy the first place in your heart. Study of the Humanities The study of the humanities presents its own peculiar motive to the religious who is engaged in it, a motive which, if employed with 228 September, 1954 STUDY ~.ND SPIRITUAL LIFE care and discretion, can give to his spiritual life a greater depth and breadth than it ever bad before. This motive is found in the word humanitas, for, as I see it, the purpose .of all classical studies in Latin, Greek, and English is to increase and intensify ar sense of kin-ship between the student and all the other members of the human family. Thus, with his symiJathetic understanding broadened and deepened and his sensibilities more refined, he can more easily respond to motives of faith which teach him to love all men in Christ and for Christ. As is~ clear from looking at ourselves, not all men are saints. The exercises of the novitiate may lead religious to expect too much of their fellow men. From reading the, lives of the saints and the ways of reaching sanctity they can acquire a partial, not a total view of life. Spiritual theology is likely to idealize and adorn too much. Philosophy, on the other hand, strips life of its warmth and color. History and literature, correcting the other two views, show us human beings as they are. They show us man as the "noble, lawless savage" that Newman speaks of, "whose morals find interests are disfigured and perverted by all the imperfections of passion, 'folly and ambition." So, we must not expect from litera-ture any more than it in'tends to teach us, or any more than we can reasonably expect to find in nature itself, whose mirror it aims to be, and certainly we must not expect to find in it a guide to (he highest sanctity. We have that in Christ and in the Church. "It is the business of art and literature," as Fleckner says, "not to save men's souls, but to make them more worth the saving." The most literature intends to teach us, then, is that human nature with all its faults is very lovable in itself. Then, after viewing its faults through the medium of literature, we ourselves can reason to the great need nature always had, and still has, for the redeeming grace of Jesus Christ. Outside the monastery walls, for instance, it is a very human thing for a young man to fail in love. Men are like that. And so Shakespeare enters into the heart of one of them and gives us his Romeo in all the pangs of love-sickness, saying: "See how she leans her cheek upon that hand! O, that I were a glove upon that hand, That l might touch that cbeek t."" That hand, he says, and that cheek, as if there were no others in 229 JOHN R. POST Review [or Religious the world. But, there are no others for Romeo. Isn't that ~he way lovers act? Isn't it human for young men to "moon" that way. Shakespeare has caught this universal trait, loved it, and invited us to love it too. It is also very human for men who have done great things for their country to take compl~acency in it, and so we sense something of our own humanity in every speech of Cicero as he struts across the floor of the Senate letting men know how lucky they are to have him as consul. Yet, boastful as Cicero is, his love for his friends and his family, his loyalty to Rome and hatred for all corruption give us an example of a very noble Roman. Achilles, the greatest warrior of them all, pouts in his tent before the walls of Troy when his prize is taken from him. Antigone has become for all time the personification of sisterly affection, just as Hecuba has of aged grief, and Aeneas of filial piety. Now, the Church thinks that it .will be good for the future priests to realize how many different kinds of souls it takes to make up the human race, and to know them and love them for what they are. We know from faith that they are lovable for a higher reason, but lit-erature teaches us that they are also lovable for the basic humanity that is in them, that image of God, warped and twisted by human passion in a way that is so much like our own. So, the special pur-pose put before the student of literature, and the one he should grasp and blend with the others, may be summed up in one phrase-- to love human beings. Motioes for Studying Philosophy The subject of philosophy, too, is not without its intrinsic motives which can be made to blend with the spiritual life. "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy," says Hamlet: but, we might add, not many more. For philosophy is the study of all things knowable according to their ultimate causes. The matter of philosophy, therefore, in-cludes the world, the nature of man, and even the very being of God, as far as these things can be known by the light of reason. In natural theology, for instance, students are taught to prove the. ex-istence of God and His attributes, and how all things come from Him by creation, are kept in existence by His conservation and con-' currence, and finally have Him for their ultimate purpose. In this whole field no religious who has ever made the Spiritual Exercises can fail to see the very subject matter of the Foundation and the Contemplation to Obtain Divine Love. Moreover, the laws of 230 September, 1954 STUDY AND SPIRITUAL LIFE thought which God has implanted in our intellect, and the laws of conduct in our will, the nature 6f the human soul, its origin and its destiny are treated of in logic, ethics, and psychology. That such knowledge can, and should be, of immense profit to a religious in acquiring a more intimate knowledge of himself goes without saying. But, apart from this bearing of philosophy on his own personal life, it is in this branch of his studies that the student is forging some of his strongest weapons for his future apostolate. It is agreed, I think, by Catholic apologists that the most dangerous at-tacks on the faith today come .from ~hilosophical quarters, and hence they must be met with philosophical weapons. The Church is assailed by the false doctrines of Communism, of the rights of the state in education; she has to meet the ~rguments of those who would justify birth control and so-called mercy killing: she has to be able to give the answers to so many who question her about the very existenc~ of God and the immortality of the soul. And all of these questions have their answers--solid, reasonable answers-- in Scholastic. philosophy. Knowing this, then, a young religious would be foolish and failing in his duty if he did not study his phi-losophy with the idea of defending the Church in this all-important field. Motives For Studgin9 Theologg It takes little effort to understand how the study of theology, which is the science of God, can have a stimulating effect on the spiritual life of a theologian. The reason is that the subject matter of theology is exactly the same as the matter of our prayer and the interior life. All that God has revealed about Himself and about His plans for the sanctification of the world, all that one needs to know, and more than one needs to know, by way of credenda and agenda, to make one a saint is presented to us over a period of four years in lectures and books, arranged according to the most scientific system of thought yet devised. Treatises on the Unity and Trinity of God; treatises on God as Creator and Redeemer; treatises on the Incarnate God, Jesus Christ, and the mysteries of His life; a treatise on the Blessed Mother of God: treatises on God's ways of drawing men to Himself by means of grace and the sacraments; the Church of God and the four last things; the laws of God and of the Church --- each and every one of these subjects speaks to us of God . . . God ¯ . . God. Theology is the science of God. We must not conclude, however, that classes in theology are 231 30HN R. POST Reoiew ~or Religious meant to be spiritual exhortations. Thgy are not. Moreover, some of the theses may seem as lacking in warmth as mathematics: but like mathematids, they are necessary to show the strength and logic of the system. The hnowledye of God, then, not the love of Him, is the immediate object of theology--clear, solid, profound knowledge based on divine revelation. But since knowledge prepares for love, one's knowledge of God cannot help but prepare his soul for acts of the theological virtues of faith, hope, and ch;irity, not only during the times of formal prayer, but also during class as one listens to professors expounding the sacred doctrine and in one's roo~m when one can delve into the depths of Sdripture and tradition for oneself. That is why St. Augusti.ne likens the students of the-ology to the contemplative Mary who sat at the feet of desus listen-ing to His words. "Let them choose for themselves the better part," he says, "which shall not be taken from them, and let them give themselves up to the word, drink in eagerly the sweetness of doc-trine, and be taken up with the science of salvation." One of the aims of this article has, I hope, been achieved. It was to explain how in practice the life of studies can be made to help the spiritual life throughout the course. To this end some of the super-natural mo'tives or desires which can be blended with the natural desire of studiositas have been developed in detail. And doubtless there are others. One can, for instance, find great inspiration in studying out of gratitude to his own order, or out of reparation to the Sacred Heart. This last becomes especially valuable when the studies appear to be difficult or dull. But, those intentions we have discussed show at least how one can go about supernaturalizing his study habits right from the beginning of the course. Using the motives of studiositas, obedience, charity, and zeal for souls, ,which are common to every branch of knowledge, a student can also apply himself to the humanities because he wants to deepen his love for his fellow man, to philosophy to help him d~efend the Church, and to the61ogy because he wants to increase his faith, hope, and love of God. Entering upon his studies with any or all of these motives the young levite will turn his hours of class and study into exercises of the spiritual life and win great merit for himself, the merit of these lofty virtues. Nothing remains now but the easy task of pointing out how a young man's life of prayer can be made to help his life of study. In a perfect blending of the two it is clear that each must contribute 232 September, 1954 STUDY AND SPIRITUAL LIFE something to the other; and if, by means of the lot:ty mqtives we have just described, one's study-life has been turned into an instru-ment of the highest virtue, does it not seem just that in times of prayer a religious should make some return and beg of God the grace of making greater progress in his studies? He knows that grace is necessary for every supernatural work, and the more supernatural, it is, the more grace is needed. As he tries, therefore, to manage the higher motives in his study, it becomes increasingly clear that, al, though'we apply ourselves to the lesson in Greek or philosophy, still it is God who must give the increase. Moreover, when we plead with God to increase our spirit of curiosity or to give us a more re-tentive memory, we are asking Him only for what He Himself de-sires. St. John Damascene defines prayer as "the petition of fitting things from God." What can be more fitting, or more in accordance with God's will, than th~it a student, should make progress in his studies? If God asks every religious in his years of formation to strive seriously and eonstantly to acquire a mastery of his subject, surely He cannot take it amiss or accuse us of bringing in distractions if we beg Him now and then in our colloquies to assist us in carry-ing out" His own will, especially if the fulfillment of His will re-dounds so much to the defense of the t:aith, the spread of Catholi~ education, and the sanctification of .our own souls. This was done byi.St. Thomas, as we have seen. One's examination of conscience, toO, can be made to serve the cause of study by keeping a careful watch over one's motives and nourishing the solid habits of indus-try, ~bedience, and the others. And thus it will come about that by." a sort of interpenetration our studies will help our prayer and our prayer will help our studies, and both, thus joined toge~her, will bring ~:orth much fruit--in the spirit of the saints--to the greater glory of God. OUR ADDRESSES We have three different addresses. It would~ help considerably if all who com-municate with us would note them: 1. Bdsiness communications, sfich" as subscriptions, renewals, etc., should be sent to: REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, 606 Harrison St., Topeka, Kansas. 2. Books for review should be sent to: Book Review Editor, REVIEW FOR RE-LIGIOUS, West Baden College, West Baden Springs, Indiana. 3. All other editorial communications, such as manuscripts, questions, letters for\publication, etc., should be sent to: The Editors, REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS" St. Mary's College, St. Marys, Kansas. 233' The World Around Us John H. Ziegler, C.S.P. THE families and friends of religious continually have to make lightning-like mental adjustments when conversing with Father Luke, Brother Bede, or Sister Mary Francis. Blithely we speak of a joke heard in the "common room," of having to at- ~end."particular examen," or of being assigned a new "obedience" next week--all terms capable of various interpretations besides the consecrated meanings we have attached to them. Most mysterious of all, however, must be our use of "the .world." When heard for the first time from young, red-cheeked Frater Paul, a statement like "I used to play left end for Catholic CentraE but that was before I left the world," could give some unititiated layman the eerie sensa-tion of being in the presence of a departed soul--appearances to the contrary notwithstanding. Occasionally too we are guilty of downright equivocation when referring to "the world," thereby indreasing our chances of being misunderstood. In one sense we left the world as soon as we" begin to live in a religious house, free from such worldly ways as catching [he 8:20 bus to work every' mornin'g and saving to buy a spring hat br a new pair of shoes. That world, however, is not in itself the world which hates Christ nor that which the spiritual writers un-animously warn us to shun under pain of losing our souls. "Our parents, to whom above all others under God we owe our vocations, live or lived in that world, along with countless other lay Catholics whose solid goodness we dare not question. In another sense, of course, there is "the world" which we as well as all Christians mdst renounce, the world which is its own idol, the world which makes of pleasure, power, and wealth the supreme goals of living. This world the religious not only leaves, but in doing so burns his bridges behind him so to speak by ceding to God his legitimate" rights tb use what the worldlings abuse. Hence it is always dangerous and some- ~:imes sinful to return to this seductive world even in our thotights and imaginings. But to dwell occasionally upon the present condi-tion of other men and women living in that world of cares and iinxieties from which mercifully we are sheltered can be very profit-able. Never to do so 'may even be to risk emotional immaturity,, a 234 THE WORLD AROUND US serious if not fatal flaw in a religious. For, although at first it sounds shocking, we can indeed learn much from the world. For example, our self-complacency shatters into a million pieces at the thought of how many good, prayerful, mortified people there are who have no title but Miss, Mr., or Mrs. At five in the morning the jangling of a lone alarm clock strikes the ear no more pleasant!y than the clanging of a bell or a throaty "Benedicamus Domino." Yet there are lay Catholics who rise at such an hour, say morning prayers, and set out for Mass in the nearest church. Perhaps they have had a full-night's sleep, perhaps they have been up and down half a dozen times with a restless child or a sick husband or wife. Others, particularly young women who work in offices, attend a noonday Mass during their lunch hour and receive Holy Commun-ion- which meant before the new Eucharistic fast regulations that they had been pounding a typewriter for three or four hours without so much as a sip of water. Man.y say their rosary daily; some steady old breadwinners have spent a few minutes before the Blessed Sac- .rament on their way home from work every day for years. These are by no means all the Catholics living in the world, not even the majority; but the point is that these few pray and sacrifice regularly or~ their own, without our schedule and rule, without the support and good example of our religious brethren, without, yes, the leisure time for prayer afforded us by our state of life. In the parable it was the servant who received only one talent and buried it unprofitably who was so severely reprimanded and punished. We shtidder.to think how severe would ~ave been the condemnation of the servant who received five talents if he had not made good use of them ! Paradoxically, it may also help us to be better religious to recall at times how many bad people there are in the world, crude, cruel, sensual, selfish people whom we seldom meet even in our apostolic contacts. How trifling the annoying faults of our confreres seem beside the gross wickedness of many who pass as respectable in the wgrld. Day in and day out, for instance, fine Catholic men and w,gmen must shut their ears against the flood of foul talk,~which sv~.irls around.workbenches and desks in, the,places they-~are~employed a demorali.zin.g source~ of temptation vce are spared. They must e~i~rn a living.ami~o fierce and often, unethical competition where it is every man for himself. Admittedly that blustering member c~f the. local community who somehow irritates us may not yet have at- 235 JOHN I-~. ZIEGLER Reolew [or Religious tained the highest reaches of humility and charity, but in 6ur .heart we can always be sure that 'if we w~r'e hungry, or sick, or in distress of any kind, he or she would be among the first to come to our aid no matter what the cost. :"' Speaking of per~gnality clashes and apparent lncompat~blhty agwe l~tbel it today, it would be enormously na'ive to suppose that these are restricted to convents and monasteries. Most religious had the good fortune to grow up in homes where father and mother settled their differences amicably and pulled together. Unfortun-ately this is not a universal pattern. The eloquent instruction be-fore marriage used in this country reminds the couple that "the fu,~ ture, with its hopes and disappoint .m. ents, its successes and its fail'- U~es, ii~s pleasures and its pains, its joys and its sorrows" is hidden from their eyes.' Often enough that" future soon reveals itself to be ¯ a bitter disappointment when one or the other partner under the stress of married and family life sho, ws up as a spiteful, unbending, irresponsible person.,. The ea~.y arid 15o, pular way out leads to a divorce court. But eyery parish priest knows of more than one case of sheer heroism on the part of a husband or wife who for years has ~t~d up under this cross rather than renege on a sacred promise and break up a home. So when we find the company of Father Glum oi Sister Garrhlous especially trying, our supernatural charity towards them will be no less meritorious and may even be more effective if we realize that since the fall of Adam human relations have been'an ifi-escapable problem for everybody. Enlarging our horizons and having a world vision can:in many. ways be a tonic to our sometimes sluggish spiritual lives. It is, we must never forget, our world since by .entering the common life we do not and in fact cannot resign from membership in the human race[ Moreover, our apostolic vocation compels us to see in every sinner a potential saint, and without indulging in the dubious esti-mate Of our age as the most wicked in history, we can safely say that objectively at least innumerable mortal sins are being committed. How puny and cowardly do our sacrifices appear against such a backdrop! Listlessly we dally over hundreds of opportunities to merit graces for the spiritually underprivileged while whole nations fall away from God. While Rome burns--thank God, not yet literally--we fritter away our time in the careless performance of our duties of state. Psychologists, say a well-adjusted person must be orientated; he must realize the circumstances of time and place 236 ' September, 1954 THE WORLD AROUND US and people in which he as an individual moves. Spiritual orientation --realizing our vital position in the Mystical Body--is even more necessary, particularly for the .religious assigned by obedience to work that naturally speaking is unattractive and unrewarding. Only when he or she fully appreciates the far-reaching; world-wide conse-quences of any task well done out of love for God can there be achieved that inner contentment and peaceful adjustment to the de-tails of daily life which should characterize every servant of God. A wilfully discontented religious is something of an "Indian giver," since it must be presumed that we knew at least confusedly what we were promising when we gave ourselves to God. Only the wilfully discontented, however, can be blamed, because everyone is apt to feel discontented now and then. Here, too, in these 6ccasional periods of dissatisfaction, turning to the stark reality of the outside World can do wonders for our morale. Imagine us standing before a group of young Catholic mothers and fathers of not poor but moderate circumstances and telling them with a straight face our most recent cause for dissatisfaction: that Sister Fortunata was deemed worthy of a new habit while we were told to put up with our patched one for awhile, or that Father Procurator's fondness for ginger snaps has led him to buy another case of them with the result that the whole comm.unity will be munching on the tasteless things for some weeks to come. While being somewhat amused and per-haps a bit surprised to find such utterly human reactions beneath the religious garb, these Catholic couples could very well give us an en-lightening five-minute lecture on how much it costs to house, clothe, and feed a growing family today, presenting as evidence a handful of unpaid bills. For all its inconveniences and privations. our poverty is at least secure. Their support depends on a monthly pay check which an extraordinary expense like illness can shrink to almost nothing. And then there are always the really poor whose existence, if we are not privileged t!o work among them, we may tend to forget. If we are stationed in a large city, the chances are that less than' a mile or two from our front door there are slums, the decrepitude and squalor of which would send us hurrying back gratefully to our neat little convents. There is little disagreement that over the course of a lifetime the~ most painful sacrifices~made by a religious: stem: from~ obedience. As the venerable Trappist~ lay brother is supposed to have admitted: 'Tve gotten used to almost everything but doing what I'm told." 237 JOHN H, ZIEGLER Reoiew for Religious Again it would be unrealistic to forget that not only religious have superiors. One thing that can be affirmed of our superiors is that however imprudent at times we may think their commands--how seldom all the facts warrant this opinion--their designs are moti-vated by a sincere desire for the good of the community and each of its members. Some of the most embittered persons one can meet in the world are those whose careers were blighted by an unscrupulous executive"s passing over their genuine ability and service to give the nod to some less worthy but conniving crony. The religious who harbors the suspicion that s.uperiors lie awake after night prayers de-vising ways to make him miserable is rapidly becoming pathological, both mentally and spiritually. Our rules and constitutions, or more often customs, sometimes reach a directing or restraining finger into nearly every department of life. But with admirable self-control in view of their past experience with red tape and army regulations, veterans of military service calmly assure us that we have no mon-opoly on minutiae. A West Point graduate confessed that, after the discipline of the Point, the externals of novitiate training did not seem overly difficult. Considerations such as these are not based upon a vision of re-ligious men and women, faithful to their obligations, but for the most part unhappy and disgruntled, dragging their way through life like dreary prisoners. Not at all! But is it unfair and untrue to concede that sooner or later into the life of even the most fervent among us there slink the twin devils of discouragement and self-pity? When they come, bent upon upsetting our spiritual equili-brium, should we not have some natural defense at hand as well as sound supernatural principles? All of creation is at our disposal to use in attaining our eternal destiny. Why not turn the contempo-rary world with its crosses and problems and temptations into a re-minder that the yoke we bear and the burden we shoulder are not altogether unique? ' And yet in one way they are unique. Because we are cross-- bearers not only by necessity as all men are, not only by Christian resignation as most good layfolk are, but by choice, as are all those who voluntarily follow the counsels. In return we above all others have Christ's promise of a hundredfold and life everlasting. This hundredfold we can spoil for ourselves if, too intent upon our own little world, we see our daily sacrifices magnified out of all propor-tion to what they really are. And even our store of eternal merit 238 September, 1954 COMMUNICATIONS can be decreased if, without a world-wide vision of the urgent needs of this hour, we fail to realize how much more we could help if we tried. Com rn un ica!:ions Reverend Fathers: This communication was prompted by Father Gallen's excellent article in the May issue of the REVIEW, "Pray Reasonably." He men-tions common difficulties in retreats for religious women, many of which, I feel, d~pend upon the methods of the retreat master. Often the presentation of points for n~editation loses its essential character through excessive length. Souls wearied by prolonged oratory are deprived of both the leisure and the inclination for fur-ther lengthy reflection. If these points are to retain their purpose of preparation for mental prayer, twenty minutes or half an hour would not seem to be an unreasonable limit, with the explicit in-junction that the retreatants continue the meditation themselves, al-though not necessarily remaining in the chapel to do so. A novel and perhaps very fruitful method of presenting the points would be that of the retreat master "meditating aloud" with brief pauses for the individual to add her own affections, even perhaps with both retreat master and retreatants kneeling. The additional time provided by this shortening of the points might be profitably used in individual contact with souls in the con-fessional. Many sisters do not have an opportunity for spiritual direction during the year and wish to seek advice during the annual retreat. If the hearing of confessions is delayed until the last few days of the retreat, or if the period allotted each day is very limited, the brevity which consideration for others demands makes it difficult to obtain adequate counsel. :~ I am sure that many would benefit by a series of articles on the subject of the retreat in the REVIEW, similar to the excellent treat-ment of spiritual direction a few years ago. Undoubtedly both re-treat masters and retreatants could share many suggestions in this way.--A SISTER. 239 lZor Your/n[orma!:ion Our Proiects In our March, 1954, number (p. 61) we suggested a "project" in the form of pooling ideas as to what it takes to be a good superior. We fiave received some response (even though rather meager) to this suggestion, but we have not yet had time to organize the material. We hope to have it ready for the November number. Also in the March number (p. 62) we suggested an "American Founders' Series." The response to this has also been meager; but the first article of what ,may (or may not) be a series will appear in November. Pharmacists' Guilds It is no easy thing today for the Catholic pharmacist to live up to the moral principles and ideals taught by the Church. One help-ful means of doing this is mutual cooperation in the form of phar-macists' guilds. One such guild is The Druggists' Guild of St. dames, of the Diocese of Covington, Kentucky. This guild has published a pamphlet entitled Our Faith in Pharrnac~j, which explains the moral principles and ideals, tells how to organize a guild, and gives a model of an appropriate constitution and by-laws. The ~0rice of the pam-phlet is twenty-five cents. It can be obtained from: The Druggists' Guild of St. James, 109 W. 6th St., Covington, Ky. Trapplsfs Leave New Mexico" The Trappist community of Our Lady of Guadalupe Abbey, Pecos, New Mexico is soon to be moved to a new site in Oregon. Their New Mexico property is now for sale. It is considered suitable for a convalescent home or some such purpose for any religious group not dependent on natural resources for its support. An illus-trated brochure with pertinent information may be had by writing the Father Abbot, Right Reverend M. Columban 'Hawkins, o.c.s.o., Guadalupe Abbey, Pecos,.New Mexico. 240 Pilgrims on !:he Road t:o Love George Byrne, S,J. THE strangest answer ever given to a questioner was given by Christ to Nicodemus. A doctor of the Law, he had been im-pressed by this "Rabbi, who came a teacher from God." From him, if from anyone, he could learn the ideal of life. What on earth did Christ's answer mean? "A man must be~ born again of water and the Holy Ghost." If there had been question only of some reno-vation by water, he might have understood. John the Baptist's work was not so enigmatic. But to be "born of the Spirit,". and so "to be spirit," entering on a new life unlike the "birth of the flesh," was something unheard of in the schools where the "masters in Israel" taught. Frankly, he did not understand. He was familiar~ with the book of Deuteronomy. He l~new its precept to love God with the whole heart, with the whole strength. But he did not know the meaning of real love; the love which "whether prophecies shall be made void, or tongues shall cease, or knowledge shall be'destroyed, never falleth away." This love bad nothing of earth in it; his mind had not yet been opened to "heav-enly things." He fancied that he loved, and with him we all so fancy; but our love is a love of desire, a yearning of the heart to clasp for self something that will enrich us. When personal gain disal~- pears, the "love" vanishes. It is still more fickle when faced with the cost of suffering. It was not love, pure love. Shakespeare merely repeats St. Paul: "Love is not love, which alters when it alteration finds." Pure love is uncaused. It is of heaven; it is heaven, fo~ "God is Love." A complete birth of the spirit is needed to secure it: "Create a dean heart in me, 0 God." Nicodemus must realize how "God so loved the wi~rld as to give His only begotten Son." Nico-demus, with his fellow Jews, practiced an observance calculated to hasten the "restoration of Israel." Self was the kernel of apparent fidelity. The Apostles, too, gave that they might get: "Wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom of Israel?" Their feet were not firmly set, as pilgrims, on the road to love--pure love, God's love. For three years the Master had been pointing the way; but their "hearts were slow to believe." About to leave them, He de-clared: "I have yet many things to say to you: but you cannot bear 241 GEORGE BYRNE Reuieto ~:or Religious them now." They had to be "born agai'n" of the Holy Spirit; He "would teach them all truth." He would do more. He would come; He would abide with them. They would not remain "or-phans." They were to find their 'way to the school of love. Born of God, they would love; and, loving with the real love, they would know Him. Before Pentecost the Apostles remained behind closed doors for fear of the Jews. After Pentecost they were "wit-nesses of the Holy Ghost." They bad been born again to the true love of God. Now. they wanted to give that they "might be chil-dren of their Father in heaven": "They went from the pr~esence of the council, rejoicing that they were accounted worthy to suffer re-proach for the name of Jesus." "To GIVE AND NOT TO COUNT THE COST" We saw in a previous article (REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, XIII [July, 1954], 211) that, though all of us would resent' being told that we are inc.apable of love, we should be read9 enough to demur about the epithet. "holy." Even though we might count ourselves among the class of "good religious," there would be a lurking feeling that "holy" is reserved for the "saints." We rather think of it as applicable to some rare supermen, who have shaken the world's dust from their feet and have reached a No-Ordinary-Man's Land, through an asceticism, and a still more esoteric mysticism, beyond our range. A fundamental mistake, since "holiness" and "'real love" are identified: "He who loveth is born of God." St. John, who bad pondered over Christ's reply to Nicodemus, at last under-stood it fully at Pentecost. When he began to write his Epistle, he had "been born again" and had come to "know God" with the knowledge that "is eternal life: that they may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." The truth is easily stated. In practice, however, it seems one of those easy lessons hard to learn. John could speak of that "which we have heard, which we have seen with our ~yes . and our hands hav~ handled, of the word of life." St. Peter would strengthen our faith in its trial with the words, "Whom having not seen, you love." We remain doubtful: "how, where, and when have we shown this love? The Master Himself has removed all uncertainty: "Lord, when did we see Thee hungry . . . ? Amen, I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these my least brethren, you did it to me." The test of love is generosity; the test of pure love is unselfish generosity: "to give, and not to count the cost . . . to labor and not 242 September, 1954 PILGRIMS ON THE ROAD TO LOVt~ to seek reward": "Do good, and lend, hoping for nothing thereby: ¯ . . and you shall be the sons of the Highest." The "rich man" may well, like the Pharisee, have pridec] himself on his religion of temple service and Law, observance; growth in holiness he neglected. Lazarus, at his gate, offered him an oppor- ¯ -tunity. of growing in love by compassion. He neglected it; he was buried in hell, where all the loveless go! St. Francis de Sales has been called the saint of love: his pen distilled the word; his actions breathed it. His friends asked him the way to holiness. "You must love God with all your heart; and your neighbor as yourself," he.answered. "Yes," they said, "we know all that; but bow is one to do it?" To their insistence he replied: "Methods and systems I have.n't, got. You learn to love by loving; as you learn to speak by spe~iking, to run by running. ¯ . . Begin as a mefe~pprentice, and the very power of love will lead you on to become master of the art." " St. 'Paul, certainI~ a fire-eater, "breathing out threatenings and slaughter aga~nst~the d~sc~ple~of the Lord," d~d sit down as an ap-prentice to learn. He mastered th~ lesson and left it as an heirloom for us in his beautiful "Song of Love." If we would be "holy," we could do no better than constantly sing to ourselves this song, and let its melody harmonize with all we think about or do to oust. fellowmen. Let us begin the apprenticeship at home before looking for arctic regions to whrm with rays of our kindliness. This was the "little way" of Thgr~se of Lisieux. ~She daily tended, in her own little garden, roses whose perfume spread far and wide. Let us take St. Paul's Song of Love, and place in an opposite column the growl of selfishness. CHARITY is patient . . . is kind: on the look-out to help . . . envieth not: encourages, praises . . . dealeth not perversely . . . is not puffed up . . . is not ambitious . . . seeketh'not her own . . . .SELFISHNESS is impatient: "I can't stand thls"; "give it to me now" . . . is intolerant, bored: keeps what it has; looks for more . . . is jealous: criticizes, condemns to ap-pear bigger . . . loves to "hit back," to "take dowa that fellow's prideV' . . . lets others know what it has done; thrives on flattery . . . is full of its own importance; expects due reqognition . . . insists on its rights; "number one" is never second . . . 243 GEORGE BYRNE CHARITY is not provoked to anger . rejoiceth not in iniquity, but . . . with the truth . . . SELFISHNr:SS is touchy: flares up at a word or an act . . . admires the crafty; is afraid of sin-cerity . . . beareth all things . . . believeth all things . . . hopeth all things . . . endureth all things, . never falleth away. complains of each pin-prick . . . is suspicious, on its guard . . . is cynical: throws cold water . . . has little staying power when sacrifice is needed: is fickle. As religious, we make an examination of conscience at least once, peihaps twice a day. A mere inventory of so many duties well done, poorly done, or forgotten, does not carry us very far on the way to real improvement. The point to be stressed is not the work done, but the motive, the spirit, animating it. Our divine Master made this clear in commendin~g Mary Magdalen: "Many sins are forgiven her because she hath loved much." If instead of "Charity" w~ read in the first column, "Jesus," we see how true it is: "Jesus is patient, is kind, beareth all things, etc." Then try our own name: "John, Mary, etc." We soon see how little we fit into the "Char-ity" column; on the contrary, how much we are at home in the selfishness parade. Having made the discovery, let us look forward to possible op-portunities during the next hour, this morning, or this afternoon, of being "patient, kind, enduring," and the rest: let us resolve to profit by some of them. It is thus. that we "learn to love b,y loving." It is thus that we really start as pilgrims on the road to love and find to our surprise that we have more in common with the Heart of Love, the Sacred Heart, than we imagined. Holiness, wl~ich is growth in love, is not an empty dream. OUR CONTRIBUTORS JOHN R. POST is master of novices at the Jesuit novitiate, Shadowbrook, at Lenox, Massachusetts. JOHN H. ZIEGLER is doing graduate studies at the Catholic University of America. GEORGE BYRNE is professor of ascetical theology at Mill-town Park, Dublin, Ireland. FRANCIS N. KORTH is a member of our editorial. board. 244 'i Secular Ins!:d:u!:es: Some ( ues!:ions Francis N. Korth, S.J. IN A PREVIOUS ISSUE of this REVIEW (XIII [1954], 108)~, I referred to a number of interesting points about secular insti-tutes, many of which came up during the discussions of the ruary, 1954, Chicago meeting dealing with secular institutes. At the time I mentioned that I hoped to present these points in a future article, possibly in question-and-answer form. This is'the redemp-tion of that promise. The items are more or less iso'lated points. They are being presented with a view to filling out to some extent the general picture of what a secular institute is. It is hoped they will fulfill the purpose for which they are intended. I. Must applicants necessarily go to a distant city where a house of the secular institute is located? Personal acquaintance of the applicant should be had by the adviser who acts for the secular institute. This usually means a trip on someone's part. Later ori some other provision for the training of successful can~lidates closer to their home might possibly be worked out, especially if there are several such candidates living in about the same vicinity. However, that solution would depend upon a number of circumstances: sometimes it might be possible, other times it would be impossible. It would be better not to count upon it but rather to more or less plan on going for the necessary training.to the place where the house of the secular institute is lo-cated, at least for some period of time. 2. Is it adoisable to admit ex-religious as candidates to a secular institute? At least at the beginning of a new secular institute it would seem to be advisable not to take in too many ex-religious, since they already have undergone a systematic training different from that proper to candidates for a secular institute. That previous training might binder the development of the true spirit of a budding secular institute. 3. Are middle-aged people likely candidates for a'dmittance to secular institutes? 245 " FRANCIS N. KORTH Review for Religious M.any otherwise good people of that age group might not have all the?necessary q~J'alifications.for .such a vocation. One of these would be the proper age requirement for admittance to a specified institute. Hence one who is channeling possible vocations to dif-ferent secular institutes should make himself acquainted with the age requirements of the various groups. 4. Are widows acceptable as candidates for a secular institute? Widows can be admitted, unless the individual constitutions forbid it. If the widow has children, that might make a difference. Depending upon circumstances, .such applicants might be accepted or might be refused. 5. Would divorced persons be admitted? Under the supposition that the constitutions allow it, if the divorced person is the innocent party, such applicant could be ad-mitted provided there was no scandal: for example, if the identity of the person as a member of the secular institute is kept hidden if that be necessary to avoid scandal, or if the person goes to a place far removed from the locality where he is known. 6. What is the length of the aspirancy and of the novitiate? A six-months' aspirancy seems to be rather common. The period of training which corresponds to the novitiate in religious institutes varies: it is of one- or two-years' duration in some existing institutes. 7. Could the vows or promises made in a secular institute be termed semipublic? Yes, that term has been applied to them at'times since those vows, oaths, consecrations, or promises have a juridical effect. How-ever, all such vows, oaths, consecrations, and promises are, abso-lutely speaking, juridically private and not public; they are not recognized as public by the Church. But to distinguish them from ordinary private vows (which have no juridical effects) those vows have been termed by some commentators as semipublic or social VOWS. 8. What type or courses of studies might be suggested for the intel-lectual formation of members? Courses or lectures in dogmatic theology and in~ some branches of philosophy could be given. Also there is place-for courses in 246 September, 1954 SECULAR INSTITUTES asceticism. Dependent upon the particular apostolate of an institute, courses in languages, missiology, sociology, and other subjects would be suitable. 9. How much time would be given to prayer? In some institutes about one or two hours daily are required. This includes attendance at Mass, saying the rosary, a ball bout or more of meditation, some spiritual reading, and the like. Because many members are busy during the day earning their livelihood or doing their usual tasks, the suitable time for prayer would be the morning or evening hours. In some institutes the Divine Office (usually only a pari of it) is said privately each day. An annual retreat of five or six days is the regular thing. There might also be a monthly day of recollection. 10. Is any means used for checking on faithfulness to those prayer obligations? One possible means could be a written report on the external ful-fillment of the prayer obligations. However, no data is available on how much, if any, of this is done in practice. I1. What provision is made for the observance of the vow or promise of poverty? When the members are living in a common house and bare goods in common, the matter can be provided for quite easily. This is rarely the case. When the members do not live in a common house, a "budget" method could be used. This budget might be drawn up to cover ordinary expenses, such as light, food, heat, and so on. It might also be extended to include another category, extraordinary ex-penses: necessary or useful expenses that arise only occasionally. In either case, the estimated budget of expenses could be submitted periodically to the superior for approval, perhaps once a year. After- ~vards, at stated intervals the discrepancies between this estimated budget and the real budget, of which a record bad been kept, would be submitted to the superior for approval of the discrepancies. This budget would be individual; it would take into account such facts as the resources or income of the subject and his status in society. If the budget covers only ordinary expenses, then for extraordinary expenses (for example, the purchase of a new coat) permission could be obtained each time from the superior. Or provision might be 247 FRANCIS N. KORTH Review for Religious made to allow the subject to presume permission for the extraordi-nary expense and then report the matter later on. Similarly, in regard to the amount of money to be contributed by each member for the general needs of the institute, an agreement could be made between the institute (superior) and the subject. This might be made on a somewhat permanent basis, or as something to be re-examined and possibly revised periodically, say annually. If the former, then a clause could be added requiring re-examination in case the financial .condition of the subject became notably c.hanged. Again in drawing up this agreement, account is taken of the financial status of the individual. In general, in the matter of poverty a member could try to get along with a little less than other persons in his state of life or social position require. 12. Could a me~ber of a secular institute ~wn and operate a busi-ness? : Owning and operating a business in the name of the institute is forbidden, but it does not seem forbidden for an individual member to own and operate one. 13. Could a member prot)ide.for his parents financially it: the latter were in need? If the parents of a member fell int~ need, it seems that the supe-rior could approve such assistance as a necessary expense. In that case, however, the institute itself would not support the parents of the member, but it,would permit the member to support them. 14. Do members of secular institutes mal~e a will? Yes, a will or last testament is made before profess)on. 15. What about dealing with the opposite sex? Aside from professional or other necessary contact, it would seem that steady or regular contact with members of the opposite sex is to be avoided. This would also extend to correspondence. In the matter of dancing, members could sponsor or chaperon dances, but they .would not themselves dance with persons of the opposite sex. However, it is possible that such provisions might vary some-what in different institutes. . 16. Is it permissible fgr members to attend movies? to use cos-metics? to smoke? to go swimming? , 248 September, 1954 SECULAR INSTITUTES In these matters, there very likely might be divergent practices among various institutes. According to one report it is all right for the members to attend movies for recreational purposes if the pic-tures are good; moderate use of cosmetics is allowed; no mention is made for or against smoking; swimming is permissible. The deci-sion as to what is permissible or not in these and similar matters might depend to a considerable extent upon the customs of places and peoples. 1.7. For what purpose would a secular institute be established? A secular institute would have the general purpose of aiming at the sanctification of its members. There would also be a specific purpose, such as doing some particular apostolic work to meet a special apostolic need, or simply placing its members at the disposal of the local ordinary (or of the Holy See) to do what, he wishes done. 18. In u2hose hands is the government of a secular institute? In general the government of a secular institute is in the hands of its lay members, at least for the lay sections. In some institutes, however, a priest is serving in the capacity of superior general or provincial superior. But as a rule priest members might act rather in the capacity of spiritual advisers or confessors. 19. What is an ecclesiastical assistant? An ecclesiastical assistant (who might be known possibly~ by some other term) is a priest specially designated to give help to a secular institute. He might be chosen from the ranks of the diocesan or religious clergy. In general the function of an ecclesiastical as-sistant would be that of counseling, giving spiritual help, and the like in the external forum; but his work might vary somewhat at times in accordance with the wishes of the local ordinary. The in-. ternal government of a group, however, should be left to thegroup itself, unless possibly at 'the beginning more than spiritual help is needed from this priest to keep things going. 20. Would it be advisable for this ecclesiastical assistant, ~vbo has authoritq in spiritual matters in the external forum, also to be the ordinartj confessor or spiritual director of a member? If a discussion of t'bis point were held, the conclusion migbt be reached that a negative answer would seem to/be the better one, al- 249 FR,~,NCIS N. KORTH though in some instances such a combination might work out all right. 21. Is it advisable to use terms, such as "'novitiate," "profession," and so on in connection with secular institutes? At present some of the terminology which is common usage in regard to religious institutes is being used by some writers to explain similar matters relating to secular institutes. Terms such as "no-vitiate" and others which are proper to religious institutes are usu-ally not to be applied in their technical sense to secular institutes; rather it is hoped that a distinct body of terminology proper to secular institutes will be built up gradually. One purpose of such separate terminology might be to stress the important fact that members of secular institutes are not religious. PAMPHLETS Looe Letter (on the love of God) by John M. Scott, S.J. l0 cents.-- Twenty-four Rosaries and Chaplets, by Patrick Shaughnessy, O.S.B. 15 cents.- The Grail, St. Meinrad, Indiana. The Teacher and Vocations, by John B. Delaunay, C.S.C. 10 cents-- Ave Maria Press, Notre Dame, Indiana. The Ladtl Was Immaculate, by Daniel A. Lord, S.J.--I Can't Cope/ That Family, by Francis L. Filas, S.d.--Death Is Life, by John M. Scott, S.J.--Heart of Our World," by Arthur R. McGratty, S.J.--Don't Go to Hell, by Winfrid Herbst, S.J.--Each 10 cents. The Queen's Work, 3115 3outh Grand Blvd., St. Louis 18,, Mo. MARIAN YEAR PLAY Counted as Mine is a play of three acts, six scenes, with a modern-dress cho-rus, suitable for performance by high school and college students or by little the-atre groups and parish drama clubs. It is the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Hope of America. Written by a Poor Clare, the author of the play, Candle in Umbria, and of the boqk of poems, Whom. I Have Loued. $1.00 per copy. Order from: t(ev. Mother M.'Immaculata, P.C., Poor Clare Monastery of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Route 1, Box 285-C, Roswell, New Mexico. 25O Quinquennial Repor!: By Nonfederated Autonomous Monasteries and Houses EDITORS' INTRODUCTION THE decree of the Sacred Congregation of Religious, 3uly 9, 1947 (cf. REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, VIII [Sept., 1949], 234- 40), extended the obligation of m~lking the quinquennial re-port beyond the terms of canon 510, which requires it only of the abbot primate, the superior of every monastic congregation, and the superior general of every institute approved by the Holy See. Now, however, the superiors of all nonfederated autonomous monasteries and houses, as well as the superiors general of all diocesan congrega-tions, are obliged to send in this quinquennial report. Here are the provisions regarding these latter classes of religious: 1. Major superiors of autonomous, monasteries or houses o[ men which, although approved by the Holy See, do not belong to any monastic congregation or federation, shall send in their reports in the foIlowing order: In 1953, 1958, 1963, canons regular, monks, military orders. In 1954, 1959, 1964, all other regulars. In 1955, 1960, 1965, clerical congregations. In 1956, 1961, 1966, lay congregations. In 1957, 1962, 1967, societies of common life, secular insti-tutes and federations. 2. Major superioresses of autonomous monasteries and houses not belonging to any federation, as well as superioresses general of diocesan congregations, societies of common life, and of secular in-stitutes, shall send their report as follows: In I953, 1958, I963, the superioresses of Italy, Spain, Portu-gal. In 1954, 1959, 1964, the superioresses of France, Belgium, Holland, England, Ireland. In 1955, 1960, 1965, the superioresses of the other countries of Europe. In 1956, 1961, 1966, the superioresses of America (North,. Central, South). Shortly after the publication of its decree, the Sacred Congrega- "25t QUINQUENNIAL REPORT tion issued a new questionnaire to replace the official one of March 25, 1922 (AAS, XV, [1923], 459-466) which contained 106 questions. The new questionnaire, printed in Latin, has three forms: (1) for pontifical institutes and societies (342 questions); (2) for diocesan congregations and societies (322 questions); (3) for nonfederated autonomous monasteries and houses (171 questions). The first of these questionnaires, for pontifical institutes a, nd societies, has been translated into English and published by the Sa-cred Congregation. It is available for $1.50 from Rev. Giulio Mandelli, Archivist, S. Congregation of Religious, Palazzo San Cal-listo, Rome, Italy. With the permission of the Sacred Congrega: tion of Religious, this complete official English text was also pub-lished in REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS during the course of the year 1950. The two shorter questionnaires have never been translated officially into English. As a matter of fact, the questionnaires fbr pontifical and diocesan institutes are practically identical after one omits some twenty questions dealing with provinces and their government. The complete text for diocesan congregations may be found in Creusen-Ellis: Religious Men and Women in the Code, ed. 5, 1953, pp. 278-316. The questionnaire for nonfederated autonomous monas.teries and houses, however, contains only about half the questions pro-posed for pontifical institutes. It was decided to publish this ques-tionnaire in our REVIEW for the benefit of these small houses because they cannot find the qfiestions elsewhere in English, And, since the monasteries and houses in England and Ireland must send in their reports this year, this questionnaire is being printed now, even though American houses will not need it until 1956. We should like to add that, though these various questionnaires may directly concern only limited numbers of religious, yet all of us can learn a great deal about the mind of the Church by reading the questions. What follows is an unofficial English translation of the official Latin text of the questionnaire: POINTS TO BE NOTED A) Regarding the drawing up, and writing of the quinquennial re-port: a) ]~efore the reply to each question, there should be a clear 252 ~ September, 1954 QUINQUENNIAL REPORT ¯indication of the number and letter by which that question is desig- ~aated in this list. b) Whenever a pontifical or episcopal document is brought in, its date and protocol number should be faithfully and uniformly given. c) The reply is to be developed as each case may require, and is not to be dismissed with a simple affirmation or denial. d) The report is to be made out in Latin or in any of the fol-lowing modern languages: English, French, German, Spanish, or Italian. e) The report should be typed and in clear characters. If for some just cause the report is written by hand, the handwriting must be clear. f) The paper to be used must not be translucent nor too thick, but durable, so as to resist the ravages of time. B)" Regarding the manner in which this report is to be made to the ordinaGl and transmitted b~] him to the Sacred Congregation of Religious: 1. Superiors of autonomous monasteries and religious houses are not to send the quinquennia! report directly to the Holy See, but rather to their own local ordinary, if they are subject to him, other-. wise to the regular ordinary upon whom they depend (cf. decree Cure transactis, IV, 1°, 2°). 2. The report is to be signed by the superior of the autono-mous monastery or house and by all his councilors. 3. Either the local ordinary or the regular ordinary, as the case may be, shall send a copy of the report, signed by himself and an-notated by his own personal observations, to the Sacred Congrega-tion of Religious within the year itself during which the report is to be made. 4. Together with the first report following the publication of the present questionnaire, the following documents also are to be sent to the Sacred Congregation of Religious: a) Two well-bound copies of the Rule and the constitutions, revised to conform with the Code of Canon Law. .b) One copy each, if there are such, of the books in which particular laws, practices, customs, the ceremonial, and proper prayers are contained. c) A historico-juridical report in which are indicate.c[.the origin of the autonomous monastery or house, its establishment or 253 QUINQUENNIAL REPORT Reoiew for Religious approval, as well as the principal historical events. To this shall be added, if there are any such, copies of those books which describe the history and activity of the monastery. " ¯ ON THE FIRST PAGE OF THE REPORT PUT THE FOLLOWING: The Name, of the monastery or house: . . . ~ (the of{iclal title in Latin, and the common name) Complete address: postal, telegraphic. The years which are covered by the report: . . . THE LIST OF OUESTIONS CONCERNING THE PRECEDING REPORT 1. a) When was the last report sent to the ordinary? b) Were the observations on the report which may have been made by the Sacred Congregation and transmitted by the or-dinary faithfully carried out in practice? 2. Can the matters of information contained in the last report be conscientiously considered reliable and complete, or does anything concerning them seem to require modification? CHAPTER I THE MONASTERY AND ITS GOVERNMENT ARTICLE I The autonomous monastery or house in general 3. What is the juridical nature of the monastery or house: a) To which order, if any, does it belong and which Rule is followed? b) Are the vows solemn or simple; or simple, though sol-emn according to the institute (c. 488, 7°) ? 4. Is the house provided with those things which are neces-sary for the common life, especially: a) A separate cell for each person; or, if the dormitories are common, at least a separate bed for each person, properly set apart from the others? 254 September, 1954 QUINQUENNIAL REPORT b) A separate place fully suitable for the care and assistance of the sick? c) Are the rooms for receiving guests sufficiently separate from the part of the house which is reserved to the community? 5. Are there an.y filial houses subject to the autonomous mon-astery or house? How many? 6. Does the monastery depend on the local ordinary or on the regular superior? ARTICLE II Concernin9 he juridical 9overnmen÷ 7. Is the general council of the monastery or house up to its full membership at present? 8. Within the period covered by the report, has there been a session of the chapter of elections? 9. Were the norms [for the chapter] prescribed by the com-mon law and by particular law "(the constitutions, etc.) faithfully observed as regards: a) The time of the session? b) The elections of the superior, of the consultors or assist-ants, and of other general officials who are elected by the chapter? 10. In all these matters, even in seeking information about the candidates, did all avoid procuring votes either directly or indirectly for themselves or for others (c. 507, § 2) i1. Who presided at the chapter? 12. Were the norms of the common law and of the constitu-tions observed: a) Regarding the requisites and qualifications of superiors and officials (cc. 504, 516)? b) Regarding the duration of offices (c. 505) 13. How many and what dispensations from the provisions of the common or particular law were granted by the Holy See: a) For appointments to positions or offices? b) For the renewal of the same? c) Were the conditions attached to these dispensations faithfully observed ? 14. How do superiors see to it that the decrees of the Holy See which concern religious are known and observed by their own sub-jects (c. 509, § 1)? 15. Is perfect freedom left to subjects, without any inspec-tion of letters by superiors, in their epistolary correspondence with 255 QUINQUENNIAL REPORT those persons who, according to the common (c. 611) and particu-lar law, have this right? 16. Were there any cases of secret and clandestin~ epistolary correspondence, either between religious or between these and secu-lar persons, and what ,was done to correct these abuses? 17. Has the canonical, visitation of the local ordinary taken place, as well as that of the regular superior, if the monastery is sub-ject to him? 18. Have chapters and council meetings been held at prescribed times and in the required cases? 19. Are the matters in which, according to the common and particular law, councilors have a deliberative or consultative vote, faithfully submitted to a meeting of the council? 20. Is the proper liberty of all and each of the councilors duly recognized in the council meetings? And'in the decisions, appoint-ments and votes of whatever kind, were the norms of the common law (cc. 101, 105, 1°, 2°, 3°) and of the particular law always ob-served ? 21. Are the minutes of the meetings duly drawn up and signed? 22. Are the archives of the monastery or house properly equipped and carefully arranged? 23. Is there also for each house a chronicle in which the prin-cipal events are carefully recorded? ARTICLE III Concerning the spiritual government 24. Are there confessors appointed for each house according to c. 518, § i? 25. Without prejudice to the constitutions which may pre-scribe or recommend that confessions be made at stated times to ap-pointed confessors, are the religious left free to go, in accordance with canon 519, without prejudice however to religious discipline, to a confessor approved by the local ordinary, even though he is not among the appointed confessors? 26. Are the norms of the common law and of the constitu-tions faithfully observed regarding the appointment and reappoint-ment of the ordinary, extraordinary, special, and supplementary confessors (cc. 520, §§ 1-2, 521, 524, 526, 527)? 27. Did superioresses faithfully observe the prescriptions made for them regarding supplementary confessors (c. 521, § 3), occa- 256 September, 1954 QUINQUENNIAL REPORT sional confessors (c. 522), and confessors in case of grave illness (c. 523) ? 28. Do superiors take means and exercise a prudent vigilance to see that all the religious, according to law" (c. 595, § 1, 3,°) and the constitutions (c. 519), receive the sacrament of penance at least once a week? 29. Have superiors been guilty of any abuses, and if so what were they, by which the liberty of conscience of their subjects has been restricted (cc. 518, § 3, 519, 520, § 2, 521,§ 3, 522, 2414)? 30. Has there been, under pretext of.liberty of conscience, any detriment to religious discipline on the part of subjects? Did any other abuses arise? 31. Do superiors, in accordance with canon law (c. 530, §§ 1, 2) leave their subjects free in regard to making a strict mani-festation of conscience to them? 32. Is there an appointed chaplain, or have other provisions been made by sacred functions sufficient for the spiritual welfare of the religious? Are there any difficulties with regard to the spiritual welfare? 33. Do superiors, in accordance with c. 5'95, §§ 2-3, promote among their subjects frequent and even daily reception of the Most Sacred Body of Christ, always without prejudice to full liberty of conscience according to law (c. 595, § 4) and the instructioris of the Holy See? 34. Do superiors diligently see to it that confessors are easily available before Communion, and do they allow their religious sub-jects a suitable time for preparation and thanksgiving? 35. Do superiors see to it that, according to the constitutions and the common law, there are spiritual and catechetical instructions for the entire house (c. 509, § 2, 2°), for the novices (c. 565, § 2), for the conversi [lay brothers and lay sisters], for the domes-tics and servants .(c. 509, § 2, 2°) ? ARTICLE IV Concern[n9 fhe f[nanclal 9overnmenf 36. a) Did the house 'acquire any immovable property or precious movable property? What was the value of these acquisi-tions? b) Was the aforesaid property acquired by gift or other gra-tuitous title, or by purchase, and in this latter case was it with the funds of the house or with borrowed money? 257 QUINQUENNIAL REPORT Review for Religious 37. Has the house an inventory of its movable property, espe-cially of that which is classed as precious (by reason of art, his-tory, or material) (c. 1522, 2°) and of its immovable property? 38. When must these inventories be revised, and are they in fact revised? 39. By what method or in whose name before the civil law is the religious property registered? Can this registration be regarded as safe in civil law? 40. Were extraordinary expenses paid from their own ordi-nary or extraordinary income, or on the contrary with borrowed funds? 41. What capital property, whether immovable, or stable [i.e. consisting of capital funds], or precious, was alienated, and by what authority? 42. In the alienation of property, were the provisions of law (cc. 534, 1531), especially regarding the previous appraisal by ex-perts, and the norms of the constitutions, observed? 43. Did the house consume any stable or founded property or capital funds? For what reasons and by what authority? 44. Are superiors making serious efforts to recover this prop-erty ? 45. a) What debts were contracted, and by whom? b) What debts are actually outstanding~ 46. In contracting debts and obligations, were the following faithfully observed : a) The provisions of c. 534? b) The precautions mentioned in c. 536, § 5? c) The norms of the constitutions regarding permissions, the consent of the council, etc. ? 47. Was the interest on debts and obligations faithfully paid, and is diligent care being taken toward the gradual payment of the debt; or the amortization of the capital sum borrowed (c. 536, § 5)? 48. Are there any difficulties of an economic nature, and what are they ? 49. Is the administration of property conducted, not abitrar-ily, but according to the common law and the constitutions, under the direction and vigilance of the superior and of his council (cc. 516, § 2, 532, § 1)? 50. Was a clear and complete rendering of account demanded 258 September, 1954 QUINQUENNIAL REPORT of all and each of the bursars and administrators during the five-year period ? 51. Were there presented, together .with the accounts, the documents showing the expenditures and receipts? 52. Was there regularly an inspection and checking of the safe? 53. Did superiors, councils, and administrators lawfully, safely, and profitably invest the money which was to be invested according to law and the will of benefactors, observing the rules of law and the constitutions (c. 533) ? 54. Are money, securities, contracts, precious articles carefully preserved, observing exactly the common norms and the provisions of the constitutions? 55. Do superiors, bursars, administrators conscientiously strive to have all the property of the institute religiously preserved and providently administered (c. 532, § 1)? 56. What legacies and pious foundations were accepted? 57. In accepting pious foundations and legacies, were the rule~ of law (c. 1544, ss.) and of the constitutions observed? 58. Was the money of foundations and pious causes, accord-ing to law and with the consent of the 16cal ordinary when that was required, invested (cc. 535,. §§ 1,. 2: 1547)' and separately and faithfully administered (cc. 535, § 3, 2°; 1546; 1549)? 59. Were the obligations attached to foundations faithfully and conscientiously fulfilled (cc. 151,4, 1549, § 2)? 60. Did visitors demand documentary proof of their fulfil-ment and an account of the administration of the property? 61. Did any religious, superiors or subjects, personally or through others, engage in illicit business, that is, business not per-mitted to religious, in violaton of cc. 142, 592? 62. Were superiors and councils attentively watchful that, ac-cording to c. 1539, § 2, in the administrative exchange of securities payable to bearer, all appearance of commerce or trading was avoid-ed? 63. How did superiors exercise vigilance over the actions and dealings of their subjects from which there might arise according to law a financial responsibility on the part of tbe house (c. 536, § 2) or of the individual religious (c. 536, § 3) ? 64. Do superiors see to it that, in all matters which concern finances, or in those generally which could give occasion for litiga-tion in the canonical or civil courts, everything is done exactly ac- 259 QUINQUENNIAL" "R EPOR.T Review for Religious cording to law, on the basis of previous written contracts and with the guarantee of perfectly valid signed agreements, etc. (c. 1529)? 65. How are the economic needs of the monastery provided for: by the labor of the community or by alms? 66. What, if any, activity does the community engage in for its own support? CHAPTER II CONCERNING THE RELIGIOUS AND THE RELIGIOUS LIFE AND DISCIPLINE 67. What are the different classes, if any, among the members of the monastery? Does harmony exist among the different classes and is fraternal charity observed among them? 68. What is the actual number of those professed of tempo-rary vows and of perpetual vows, according to the various classes? 69. Besides the persons who belong to the institute or society as members, by religious profession or lawful incorporation, are there others who are dedicated or given to it, or the like, without being members? 70. Is provision made in fairness and charity for the spiritual life of these persons and also for their material security? 71. Are there any legitimately approved statutes for them? ARTICLE I Concerning the admission, formation, and profession or incorporation of members 72. Is the condition of the extern sisters regulated according to the statutes promulgated by the S. Congregation on 3uly 16, 19317 73. Are the postulantships properly conducted according to law in the novitiate house (c. 540, § 1), or in houses where perfect religious observance exists (c. 540) ? 74. Was the time assigned by the common law (c. 539) or by the constitutions for the postulantship abbreviated or prolonged? If so,~for how long a time and by what authority? 75. What means are used to arouse and attract vocations? 76. Taking into account the different circumstances of various localities, what causes are regarded as having an influence on the in-crease or diminution of vocations? 77. What are the obstacles which aspirants most frequently have to overcome in order to follow th~ir vocation? 260 September, 195"4 QUINQUENNIAL REPORT 78. Were the documents required by the 'common law (c. 544) and by the constitutions demanded before admission in the case of each aspirant? 79. At least before entrance into the novitiate, were the fol-lowing testimonial letters demanded and obtained: a) The common testimonial letters which are to be given by the local ordinaries and are prescribed for all (c. 544, § 2) ? b) The special testimonial letters which are to be given under oath by the rector or major superior fo~ those who have been in a seminary or a college which is equivalent to an ecclesiastical one, or in a postulantship or novitiate of a religious institute (c. 544, §3)? c) Likewise the testimonial letters which are required in the case.of clerics and professed religious (c. 544, §§ 4, 5) ? 80. Besides the documents and testimonials which are spe-cially prescribed by law or by the constitutions, were further infor-mations which seemed necessary or useful in order to judge with certainty of the vocation and fitness of the aspirants diligently sought (c. 544, § 6)? 8 I. From what impediments¯ or defects, if any, of the common or particular law, were dispensations granted? How often and by what authority was this done? 82. Were aspirants always admitted by the competent su-periors, according to the prescriptions of the law (c. 543) ? 83. Is the right of the institute to demand payment for the expenses of the religious habit and board during the postulantship and noviceship given in the constitutions or customarily recognized by express agreement? 84. Who determines the amount to be paid? 85. How many novices are there at present? 86. Did each and every novice have a complete copy of the constitutions from the beginning of the novitiate? 87. Are ~he novices, according to law and the constitutions, kept separate from the professed, and is any undue communication between them tolerated (c. 564, § 1, 2) ? 88. Did each and every novice before profession make a com-plete and continuous canonical year of noviceship, without counting the first day, in a novitiate house lawfully erected, under the care and direction of a master (cc. 555, § 1, 556, 557) ? 89. Was the noviceship extended or shortened beyond the 261 QUINQUEN.NIAL REPORT Review for Religio. us limits fixed by law (c. 571, §2) and the constitutions? If so, for how long a time and by w.hat authority was this done? 90. Was there always in the novitiate a master of novices duly appointed or elected (c. 560) ? 91. Have the novice master and his socius all the qualifications and all the requisites prescribed by the common law (c. 559, § 1, 2) and the cgnstitutions, or did dispensations have to be asl~ed for" and obtained ? 92. A~ the master and socius free from all offices and minis-~ tries in or out of the house which might interfere with their care a'nd direction of the novices( c. 559, § 3)? 93. Did all the novices, according to c. 569, § 1, before the first profession of simple vows, freely cede the administration, and either cede or dispose of the use and usufruct, of their propett~y? 94. In case the aforesaid cession and disposition were n6t:':duly made before the profession, or in case new property was acquired thereafter, were they made or completed after the profession (c. 569, § 2)? 95. Were any changes of the aforesaid cession and disposition after the profession made always in accordance with c. 580, § 37 96. Did the novices of the monasteries of simple vows, before their first profession of temporary vows, freely make a will in due.: form, valid according to the civil law, regarding their present or future property (c. 569, § 3)? 97. Were any changes in this will which may have been made after profession, made according to c. 583, 2°? . .: 98. Do the superior and council carefully and constan.tly keep-a strict watchfulness as regards admissions? ¯ 99. Has the first profession, after eight 'full .days of spiritual exercises, always been made validly and licitly according to law and the constitutions (cc. 572, 573, 575)? 100. Did the superioresses, two months before admission to the noviceship, and to the first temporary profession, and to perpetual profession, give timely notice to the local ordinary (c. 552, § 1), so that he or his delegate might gratuito.usly conduct the canonical-ex-amination regarding the free and conscious will of the postulant or candidate (c. 552, § 2)?. : 101. Was the prescribed examination always made? ' 102. Is the dowry obligatory, or, on the contrary, is it left en-. tirely or partly optional (c. 547, § 3) ? 262 September, 1954 QUINQUENNIAL REPORT . 103. Was the delivery of .the dowry made according to law (c. 547, § 2) and the constitutions? 104. Were the dowries, immediately after the first profession, always invested by the superioress, with the deliberative vote of her council and the consent of the ordinary of the place where the capi-tal of the dowries is kept (c. 549) ? 105. Were the dowries spent or encumbered in any way before the death of the religious concerned? If so, by what authority Was this done? Were the dowries so spent or encumbered, even though it was done after obtaining lawful permission, afterward restored or cleared of the encumbrance? What is their condition at the present time (c. 549) ? 106. Where and how are the dowries administered? Are the rules of law faithfully observed regarding their administration (cc. 550, 535, § 2)? 107. Is all property which is brought in as dowry, even though it be in excess of the sum required for a dowry in the constitutions or even though there be in ihe congregation no obligation to bring in a dowry, accepted, invested, administered, etc. with the observance of the norms which govern dowries? 108. In case of the departure of a professed religious, for what-ever was needed that she might safely and decently return borne and likewise the personal belongings which t.he novice brought with her at her entrance, in the condition in which they were when she left, restored to the religious departing or transferring~ without the in-come which had a.lready accrued (cc. 551, 570, § 2)? 109. In case of the departure of a professed religious who had been received without a dowry or with an insufficient one, if she was unable to provide for herself out of her own property, did the insti-tute out of charity according to law (c. 643, § 2), give her what-ever was needed thatshe might safely and decently return home and be fittingly supported for a tim~? 110. What, if any, dispensations were necessary for the pro-nouncement of the vows? 111. How many and what sanations-were afterward necessary? 112. Were the temporary vows which are prescribed by law and by the constitutions (c. 574, § 1), when the tittle for which they were taken had elapsed (c. 577, § 1), always renewed according to law (c. 577, § 2), so that no one ever remained without vows? 113. How often was the temporary profession extended beyond 263 QUINQUENNIAL REPORT Reoieta for Religious the six-year period allowed by law, and by what authority was this done (c. 574, § 2)? 114. ]Did all the professed of simple vows in orders, within sixty days before their profession of solemn vows, duly make the prescribed renunciation of the property which they actually pos-sessed, in the form of a true cession but not in the form of a will, to whomever they chose, on condition of their future profession (c. 581, § 1)? 115. After the profession was made, were all things immedi-ately done which were necessary in order that the renunciation be effective in civil law (c. 581, § 2) ? 116. Did the superior who received the solemn profession give notice of it to the pastor of baptism in accordance with cc. 470, § 2, 576', § 2? ARTICLE II Concerning the relicjious life and discipline 117. Is perfect common life according'to c. 594, the Rule, and the constitutions observed everywhere? 118. What has been done and is being done positively to safe-guard and promote the virtue and. spirit of poverty? 119. Do superiors and officials, out of religious charity and in order to ward off from the religious occasions of sinning against poverty, provide, within the limits of poverty itself, what is neces-sary and appropriate in the way of food, clothing, and other things? 120. Do they allow the religious to ask for or receive these things from externs? 121. Are the sick and the aged religious, attended to with special care and helped in both body and soul with paternal charity, so that, within the limits of religious poverty, they lack nothi'ng which seems necessary for the recovery ot their .health and for their spir-itual consolation? 122. Did all superiors make it a matter of conscientious duty to be attentively vigilant regarding those things, both in and out of the house, which may easily contain dangers against religious chas-tity ? 123. What kind of cloister is observed? Are the places subject to cloister clearly marked and sufficiently guarded? Are the pre-scriptions of the law and of the constitutions regarding cloister faithfully observed (cc. 589-599; 604) ? 264 ~epte,-nber, 124. frequent, principal 125. 1954 QUINQUENNIAL REPORT Were the cases of dispensation from the law of cloister either for going but,- or for entering? Which were the ones? Are difficulties experienced in the observance of cloister, esl~ecially when nuns~ are engaged in the works of the apostolate, of education, etc. ? 126. a) Are the parlors so arranged that what goes on in them ~an be seen from the outside? b) Is the frequency of parlor visits regulated according to the constitutions and religious prudence? 127. Do the rooms which are reserved for chaplains and confeS-sors or preachers have a separate entrance and no internal communi-cation with the quarters of the religious? 128. Is religious discipline observed, and is the,government of superiors made easy by the docility of the subjects? Was it neces-sary often to impose formal precepts in virtue of the vow of obedi-ence? 129. Were such precepts given in due form according to the 'constitutions, and always for a grave reason? 130. Are the Rule and the constitutions faithfully observed (c. 593) ? 131. Are the Rule and the constitutions read publicly at the prescribed times (c. 509, § 2, 1°) ? 132. Do superiors see to it that in all the houses the exercises of piety which are prescribed for every day, every week, every month, every year, or for other fixed times, are faithfully and worthily per-formed according to the constitutions? 133. Do superiors see to it that all the religious: a) Make a retreat every year? b) ,Are present at Mass every day if not legitimately pre-vented ? c) Give themselves to mental prayer every day? d) Attend earnestly to the other offices of piety which are prescribed by the rules and constitutions (c. 595, § 1, 1 ° and 2°) ? 134. Do superiors see to it that all the members are able to be present at community exercises? 135. If choir service is prescribed by the constitutions, is it held exactly and worthily in each of the houses according to the same constitutions and the common law (c. 610, § i), the religious who are bound to choir and not actually lawfully impeded being present? 265 QUINQUENNIAL REPORT 136. Do superiors see to it that priests, clerics in major orders, and the solemnly professed, who were absent from choir, recite the Divine Office privately with attention and devotion (c. 610, § 3) ?. 137. Are the relations between the different members of the house, between superiors and subjects, etc., characterized by a spirit of true charity? 138. Are defects against charity severely corrected? 139. Are superiors watchful that no book~ be used, whether in manuscript or published form, which are not entirely safe? 140. Are the spiritual books which, according to law, the reli-gious use privately, approved by the Church and in keeping with the religious state, and suitable for the spiritual welfare of the indi-vidual ieligious to whom they are permitted? ARTICLE III Concernincj those Who have departed or been dismissed and others who leave the institute 141. a) How many in the house, at the expiration of their. vows, did not renew them, either because they chose not to do so or because they were not allowed to do so? b) How many of the professed of temporary vows were dispensed from their vows during this period, and how many of the professed of perpetual vows were dispensed? 142. Were those who were dispensed from their vows at their own request or with their consent, forced or, without serious and grave reasons and precautions, permitted to leave the religious house before the rescript was duly executed? 143. How many transfers, if any, were there to another insti-tute ? 144. How many apostates and fugitives, if any, were there during the five-year period? 145. a) Since the last report, how many of the professed of temporary vows and how many of the professed of perpetual vows have been dismissed? b) In the dismissal of religious, whether of" temp~[ary or of perpetual vows, were the norms of the common law "('cd." 647, § 2, 4°; 649-672) as well as those of the constitutions observed? Was the same done in regard to not admitting the prqfe~se~l 0f ~emporary vows to the renewal of their vows or to perpetu~il pro-fession (c. 637) ? 266 September, 1954 QUINQUENNIAL REPORT. 146. Were the dismissed of 'temporary vows, while the recourse duly made within ten days was pending (c. 647, § 2; S. C. of Reli-gious, 20 July 1923, AAS, XV [1923], 457), and the dismissed of perpetual vows, before the decree or judgment of dismissal had been confirmed by the Sacred Congregation (cc. 652, 666). forced to leave the institute? 147. What were the cases, and the causes which led to them,, among both the professed of temporary vows and those of per-petual vows, in which they were either sent back to the world on account of grave scandal or very grave harm (cc. 653, 668) or dis-missed by the law itself :(c. 646) ? 148. How many ~ses of exclaustration were there, if any? Were the causes carefull) and conscientiously pondered in the pres-ence of God before the petition was recommended and the rescript executed ? 149. Does the institute take care: a) That indults are renewed in due time, if it seems neces-sary to ask for an extension? b) That the persons who are excloistered lead a worthy religious life and return as soon as possible to the cloister? 150. Do superiors see to it that subjects remain out of the house only for a just and grave reason and for the shortest possible time, according to the constitutions (c. 606, § 2) ? 151. Were 'the prescribed suffrages faithfully and promptly per-formed for all the deceased? " " 152. Do superiors, in accordance with c. 509, § 2, 2°, give to those religious who belong to the class of conversi, instruction in Christian doctrine? And do superiors, carefully attend to the training of these same religious, both before and after their profes-sion, especially during the earlier years, according to the offices~ which are entrusted to them? 153. Do superiors with paternal charity diligently provide also for the bodily health of the conuersi or coadjutors? CHAPTER III C;ONI31:RNING THE WORKS AND MINISTRIES OF THE MONASTERY 154. What works are carried on in the house (apostolate, edu-cation, manual labor for pay) ? 155. Was begging from door to door, according to law 267 QUINQUENNIAL REPORT Reoieu2 for Religious (cc. 621, 622) and their own constitutions, done with the required permissions ? 156. Moreover, in begging, were the rules of law (c. 623), the instructions of the Holy See (c. 624), and the norms of the con-stitutions observed ? 157. What precautions are taken in this communication with seculars to avoid harm to the religious and scandal to seculars? 158. How often and by what superiors are the books of Masses of each house examined and signed? 159. As regards the manual stipend of~ Masses, did all the houses obser;ce the decrees of the local ordinaries and the customs of the dioceses according to cc. 831, §§ 2-3; 832? 160. In each of the houses were the obligations of Masses, both perpetual and manual, faithfully satisfied in due time according to cc. 834, 15177 161. Were any special concessions made in this matter, either as regards the reduction of the stipends or intentions, or as to deferring the celebration of the Masses? If so, what were they? CONCLUSION A ~summary compara÷ive judcjmenf recjardln9 fhe stale of fhe monas.fery 162. Is the autonomous monastery or house fully self-sufficient with regard to the personnel needed to fill the various offices of gov-ernment and to carry out its proper work, also with regard to relig-ious formation, as well' as with regard to economic means, so that regular observance can flourish fully? 163. What is to be said about the desire for and the actual striving toward evangelical perfection on the part of the members (cc. 487, 488, 1°) ? 164. In this respect is there in the institute progress.or retro-gression as compared with the preceding five-year period, and how is this manifested or proved? What are the reasons for either the progress or the retrogression? 165. What has been done by superiors during the five-year period to promote the tendency toward perfection and to prevent relaxation? 166. What is to be said summarily about the observance of the: vows and of the provisions of canon law, the Rule, 'and the consti-tutions, both absolutely and in comparison with the preceding five- 268 September, 1954 REGIONAL CONFERENCES AND WORKSHOPS year period ? 167. What are the points of religious discipline which are more easily and frequently violated? I68. What causes may be assigned for the progress in religious observance or for its decline? 169. What has been done by superiors to secure faithful and ~omplete regular observance? 170. As regards capital and finances what is the condition of the house in itself and in comparison v~ith the preceding five-year period ? 171. To what causes is the growth or diminution of capital and income to be attributed ? Given at Rome; from the headquarters of the S. Congregation ~of Religious, December 9, 1948. ALOYSIUS CARD. LAVITRANO, Prefect FR. L. H. PASSETTO, Secretaru REGIONAE CONFERENCES AND WORKSHOPS 1954-55 OF THE CATHOLIC: HOSPITAL AssoCIATION This year's program includes eight such special conferences., The first general subject, The Improvement of Patient Care, is pre-sented for religious in large hospitals on October 4 to 6,.1954, at the Sheraton Hotel,'St. Louis, Missouri. For religious in small hospitals another regional workshop on this subject will be presented Novem-ber 28 to 30, 1954, also at the Sheraton Hotel in St. Louis. Conferences on Medical-Moral Problems are also planned. These special group meetings are presented under the direction of Reverend Gerald Kelly, S.J., of St. Mary's College, St. Marys, Kansas, con-sultant for the Association's activity in this field. The first is to takd place at St. Michael's Hospital, Grand Forks, North Dakota, October 25 to 27, 1.954. Two others are in the process of development--one for the East. ¯ and another to be held in the Mid-West. Further announcement will be made when this information .is available. On January 17, 18, and 19, 1955, at the Sheraton Hotel in St. Louis, Missouri, there will be a Special Conference for Treasureis (Continued on page 272) ¯, o 269 Questions and Answers 26 Suppose a sister can hear only one Mass on Sunday and during thai' Mass she performs her duty of saying her morning prayer or reading the, Liffle Office: is it possible to fulfill both th~se obligations at one and the same time, according to the mind of the Church? As regards merely the fulfillment of the diverse obligations, there seems to be no difficulty. Even the serious obligation (e.g., of a deacon or subdeacon) of reciting the Divine OtSce in private can be fulfilled while one is hearing a Mass of obligation. Certainly, there-fore, the sister's lesser duties of saying morning prayers or of recit-ing the Little Office can be fulfilled during a Mass of obligation-- unless the constitutions expressly provide otherwise. The "mind of the Church" for religious includes more than the mere fulfillment of obligations; it includes not only what is neces-sary but~ what is appropriate. And in the sense of what is appropri-ate it is certainly the mind of the Church that the prayers prescribed for religious, even when the prescription does not bind under pain of sin, should ordinarily be said at some time other than the 'Sunday Mass of obligation or the weekday community Mass. The saying of such prayers during these Masses should at most be merely by way of exception, e.g., because of the special pressure of other duties. And it seems to us that in these exceptional cases it would be better to follow the Mass in the usual way and to omit the other prayers. If conditions become such that tl'iis "pressure pf other duties" is habitual and not merely exceptional, then superiors should see to it that these ~otber duties are lessened so that their subjects have time for their prayers: --27m If one is rushed at confession time and in the confusion fails to make an act of contritlon.in.the confessional, is the confession invalid? True contrition is certainly necessary for valid absolution; and' according to most theologians some external manifestation of this contrition is also required for validity. But this external manifesta-tion of contrition does not have to be according to any .set formula,. nor does it even have to be expressed in words. A dolorosa confes- 270 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS sio--tbat is, confession itself when sincerely made with a view to receiving absolution by one who, has internal sorrow-~-is~a suffi'cient external sign of the contrition; and absolution given to one who has made such a confession is certainly valid. It is true that we should always train the faithful to make a verbal act of contrition in the confessional, after having confessed their sins. But the making of this verbal act is rather a matter of good procedure--and for some people a means of being sure ot: the requisite expression of sorrow--than an absolute essential As for the case proposed in the question: we would tell any sin-cere religious or devout lay person that the absolution was undoubt-. edly valid and tbat there is no reason for anxiety. --28-- Is a sister superior justified in insisting that her subjects must not drink water before Holy C;ommunion unless there is some real necessity for doincj so? Accordin~ to the ApOstolic Constitution Christus Dominus plain water no longer breaks the Eucharistic fast. No reason either of nec_essity or even of special utility is required for drinking water before Holy Communion. Consequently, a religious superior is no more justified now in insisting that subjects should not drink water without necessity after midnight than she would have been justified before .3anuary 16, 1953, in insisting that subjects should not drink water without necessity before midnight. m29D Is it ever permissible to receive Hob/ Gommunlon without flrs~ cjo[ncj to confession when one has committed a mortal sin? Canon 856 states that one who is conscious of having committed a mortal sin shouldnot receive'Holy Communion without first go-ing to confession. This is the ordinary rule. The canon adds, bow-ever, that in a case of urgent necessity, when there is no opportunity of going to confession, one may receive Holy Comunion after having made an act of perfect contrition. There are many aspects to this question; and all of them require careful explanation. For such explanation the questioner is referred to the article "Confession befo*re Communion," in REVIEW FOR RE-LIGIOUS, XII (May, 1953), 135-50. : 271 Q~JESTIONS AND ANSWERS Re~;iew lot Religious --30-- /. If one is in doubt about having given the consent necessary-'for a mortal sin, is it preferable to abstain from Holy Communion until one can get to confession? Generally speaking, it is not preferable.to omit Holy commun-ion; although it might be preferable in some cases, e.g., b~cause a person has a special proneness to laxity. The proper judge c~f such a case is the spiritufil director or confessor of that person. Although it is certainly not obligatory and generally not even preferable to omit Holy Communion because of a do.ubt; yet it is at least advisable--and in our opinion obligatory--for one who has d really solid doubt (and not a mere scruple) about having committed a mortal sin to take some reasonable means of making sure he is in the state of grace before he receives Holy Communion. In the case proposed in the question a reasonable means would be to make an act of perfect contrition for all one's sins, including the doubtful matter. This problem of doubt is also explained more fully in the article referred'to in the preceding question, pp. 139-40. Regional Conferences and Workshops (Continued from page 269) and General Accountants of Religious Groups Conducting Hospi: tals. This particular meeting is especially planned by the Assoda-tion's Council on Financial Management and will focus upon poli-cies, techniques, and procedures involved in the handling of financial affairs of these groups. Other meetings for special groups have also been scheduled. These include a Conference on Collegiate Programs in Nursing Edu-cation at the Sheraton Hotel, St. Louis, February 19 to 21, 1955; a Conference on Accounting for Administration (especially for the small hospital) at the Hotel Piedmont, Atlanta, Georgia, April 18 to 19, 1955; the Western Conference of Catholic Hospitals is spon-soring a Workshop on Purchasing for Hospital Purchasing Officers on April 23 to 24, 1955, at St. Mary's Hospital, San Francisco: also a Conference on Public Relations for Administrators and Public Rela2 tions Officers of Catholic Hospitals--April 23 to 24, 1955, also St. Mary's Hospital, San Francisco, California. 272 THE NEW TESTAMENT. By James A. Klelst, S.J., and Joseph M. Lilly, C.M. The Bruce Publlshln9 Co., Milwaukee. 1954. Pp. bg0. $5.00. The work of Fathers Kleist and Lilly as presented in this book is a marked example of the progress which Scriptural studies in general and New Testament efforts in particular have made in the last fifty years. A quarter of a century ago, appreciating the ad~ vances scholarship had made in the study of the post-classical Greek language as well as in Hellenistic civilization, Father Kleist surmised that the gospels translated from the Greek of that period might convey to the Christian reader a better understanding of Christ's life and message than could be derived from the more or less slavish ren-dition from the Latin Vulgate into quite antiquated English phrase-ology which was' all.tbat the Catholic reader had; he considered that such a translation would afford Catholics the opportunity, in a prac-tical way, of realizing the hope whicb the Church was expressing-- namely that her members should read the Bible more assiduously. He set himself to that task, and the result of his labors makes up nearly half of the present volume. The gospel translation is in clear, flowing, modern literary Eng-lish; it conveys the G/~eek thought accurately. To achieve this ac-curacy the translation interprets the meaning of words and phrases, uses synonyms for the same Greek word to bring out the shades of thought, employs expressions which do not require the learning of a theologian or of an expert exegete to grasp. The word pneutna, for example, is not always translated by "spirit" and the passages in which this word occurs are so well phrased that no commentary is required to explain them. Thus: "Blessed are the poor in spirit" (Mr. 5:3) becomes, "Blessed are the humble souls"; "And sighing deeply in spirit" (Mk. 8:12) becomes, "He sighed from the depths of his soul"; "When Jesus saw the Jews weeping .he grbaned in spirit and was troubled" (Jo. 11:33) becomes, "The sight of them stirred Jesus deeply and shook his inmost soul." There is a pleasing, natural ease, simplicity, and spontaneity throughout the translation. Christ's Words are not, "Woman, thou art delivered from thy in-firmity" (Lk. 13:12), but, "My good woman, you are now rid of your infirmity." Notabl.yhappy is the rendition of 3o. 3:8 which, 273 BOOK REVIEWS Review for Religious instead of, "So is everyone who is born of the Spirit," reads, "Some-thing like this takes place in everyone born of the Spirit." What~- ever notes are appended to the gospels are the work of Rev. Henr~; Willmering, S.J., New Testament professor at St. Mary's College, St. Marys, Kansas. The notes are always pointed, clear, concise. All the rest of the translation in this volume is the product of Father Lilly. Emboldened by the various encyclicals on Biblical studies from Leo XIII to Pius XII, his experience as a seminary" professor ot: Sacred Scripture indicating the need of a good transla-tion from the Greek, Father Lilly generously undertook to do all the rest of the New Testament, a task which Father Kleist had said he would never venture to do~ Father Lilly succeeded admirably in his efforts. He concentrated his best energies on the letters of the Apos-tles; only secondarily did he give consideration to the narrative of the Acts of the Apostles. The result is that this narrative does not vary in any notable way from the Confraternity translation, for the phraseology of the two translations is often identical. But in the letters and in the Apocalypse, Father Lilly took greater liberty to clarify the meaning of the texts. A few instances of his excellent work may be here cited: "Who have the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh," he expresses as, "The patriarchs are theirs, and from them has been derived the human nature of Christ" (Rom. 9:3). The less intelligible wording of "the work of each will be made manifest, for the day of the Lord will declare. it, since the day is to be revealed in fire. The fire will assay the quality of everyone's work: if his work abides which he has built thereon, he will receive reward; if his work burns he will lose his. reward, but himself will be saved, yet so as through fire" (1 Cor. 3:13-15) is clarified thus: "Each individual's work will be made manifest. The day will make it known because fire will lay it bare, and will test the quality of each individual's work. If the work any-one has put into the superstructure stands firm, he will be rewarded, but if anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer a loss, yet he him-self will be saved, though only by passing, so to speak, through fire." Simple sentences and expressions are expertly turned. Apoc. 4:2 may serve as one example: "Immediately I was in the spirit, and behold there was a throne in heaven," gets this phrasing: "Suddenly I was thrown into an ecstacy. To my surprise, there was a throne set up in heaven." This book is the latest and till~ now the best product of a happy I 27.4 September, 1934 BOOK REVIEWS tendency to which New Testament studies have been yielding in recent years amongst Catholic'English-speaklng scholars. It is a co-ordinated result of two lines of modern effort: to translate from tile Greek rather than from the Latin ~Vulgate, and secondly, to make the translations interpretative rather than rigidly literal. In 1901 Father Seymour Hobart Spencer, O.P., laid a milestone when he translated the four gospels from the Greek; before he died in 1913 he had finished the entire New Testament. Not until 1937, how-ever, was his entire opus published for the first time. Leo XIII's Providentissimus Deus lent spark to this line of effort, and in the 1930s the Westminster Version of the New Testament from the Greek appeared. Both Father Spencer, however, and the Westminster translators employed a prudent restraint in their venturesome task. They kept themselves considerably constrained and adhered largely to literalness in their translations. Yet there was a kind of restiveness arising amongst scholars to offer a translation which would be quite sufficiently interpretative and would' not require much comment of exegetes to explain the meaning of the text. This restiveness began to assert itself in the 1940s. It chose as the object on which it could exercise itself the Latin Vulgate and the reason for this choice was that the more in- .terpretative translation could be read at the Catholic church services. In 1941 the Confraternity translation of the New Testament ap-peared in the United States, and its purpose was rather to modernize antiquated expressions than to translate with the freedom which interpretation requires; but three years later Msgr. Ronald Knox published his work in England with a freedom and ease of phrase-ology hitherto unemployed, modestly interpreting the meaning of the Vulgate. Both these translations, as well as those from the Greek mentioned above, were quite well accepted generally, though in cer-tain circles they did suffer severe criticism. There was something of heroism, tberefore, in carrying out to completion the present work, since this volume, no doubt, will be criticized for precisely the two characteristics which make it a sign of true advancement in .scholarship: it is a translation from the Greek; it is made with a considerable amount of freedom to express in an interpretative Catholic way what the inspired authors of the New Testament are trying to say. The book seems to be a must in the libraries of theologians, scholars, exegetes, priests, and laymen who are" interested in understanding the New Testament. It is not, 275 BOOK REVIEWS Review for Religious however, the last product of the trend from which it evolved. Some future translator from the Greek may interpert more easily and more clearly passages like 1 Cor. 7:29-35; 9:24-27; 10:29 and 30; but that must await the time when Catholic readers will have become more adjusfed to having a clear, expository text before them to ponder. The present work will help toward that adjustment and is paving the way toward the entrance of the Word of God into the hearts of men.--EDWARD J. HODOUS, S.J. THE CHURCH AND INFALLIBILITY. By Dom B. C. Buffer. Sheed and Ward, New York. 1954. Pp. 230. $3.50. Back in 1889 Dr. George Salmon, Provost ok Trinity College, Dublin, published The Infallibility of the Church, a celebrated pole-mical work in which he vigorously attacked and in the minds of many contemporary Protestant readers thoroughly demolished the "Roman" position on the nature of infallibility, the primacy and infallible teaching authority of the Roman Pontiff, and the legiti-macy if tradition as a font of divine revelation. Two years ago an abridged edition of this work came from the press, and it is in the hope of breaking a lance or two with the "abridged Salmon" that the Abbot of Downside, Dora Christopher Butler, a frequent and gifted contributor to The Downside Review, has e'ntered the lists with the book here under r'eview. It will be no surprise to those who know Dom Butler's profi2 ciency in the field of Patristics and Early Church History to dis-cover that in this altogether irenic rebuttal the Abbot of Downside has time after time driven home through the chinks in Dr. Salmon's armor, chinks that have been in not a few places widened consider-ably by the scientific findings and the more balanced historical eval- .uations of the past fifty years. If the work will prove an ornament to the apologetic section of the school or community library, it may still be said (and I think that Dom Christopher would be the first to agree) that the book is not intended as an organized positive ex-position of the Church's infallibility, its meaning, its necessity, its causes, its organs; nor despite its clarity of presentation and cogency of argumentation will it supply for such an exposition. The reader destined to profit most from the book will be the reader who has already a firm grip on the fundamental principles of the th.eology of the Church, her organization and doctrinal mission. -~S. E. DONLON, S.J: 2 6. September, 1954 BOOK REVIEWS MARY IN OUR LIFE. By William G. Most, Ph.D.P.J. Kenedy and Sons, New York. 19S4. Pp. 323. $4.00. Mar~l in our Life was first written as a series of chapters for Mariology study clubs at Loras College, where the author is associ-ate professor of classical languages. It has the double merit, there-fore, of being instructive in subject matter and at the same time per-sonal and direct in its manner of presentation. The body of the book is divided into twenty-three chapters of about ten pages each that range over a wide area of patristics, dogma, ascetics, and liturgy in their bearing on the general theme that "since God has given Mary an all-pervading place in His scheme for the redemption of man, it follows that if we wish to grow in love of God . . . we will give Mary a corresponding place in our soul-life." Chapter titles like The Popes and Co-redemptrix, Mary on Calvary, Mystical Rose, Spouse of the Holy Spirit, Marian Visions and Revelations suggest the balance of doctrine and devotion which the writer set himself to achieve. The strictly dogmatic section cov-ers the first sixty-five pages, in which the main purpose is to analyse the recent papal statements on Mary's place in the economy of sal-vation. In the remaining fifteen chapters, the principles of the spiritual life are explained in their relation to the Mother of God as the perfect model of sanctity and the channel of all graces. The longest chapter in the book, Pondering in Our Hearts with Mary, is an earnest apologia for the practice of mental prayer among the laity, in imitation of the Blessed Virgin, "whose communion with God in mental prayer or meditation was constant." Eminently prac-tical, it is intended to answer the objection that "Formal meditation may be all right for priests and religious, but how could a working man or woman or a housewife manage to undertake so complex an exercise?" Each chapter is followed by a set of notes, up to several pages in length, which give the sources for the quotations used and further explanation of various problems in the text. Particularly commendable is the frequent use of primary sources, e.g., from the Fathers, papal documents, and writings of the saints. By actual count, there are 530 reference notations, with an emphasis on mod-ern writers such as Garrigou-Lagrange. The latter part of the book contains an Appendix and a set of Questions for Discussion. The Appendix supplies a certain amount of documentary detail that was properly omitted from the body of the book, for example, a llst of passages from the Fathers on the 277 BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS Review for Religious New Eve, papal texts on the question of Mary's Co-redemption of the human race, St. Dominic as author of the Rosary, and the his-toricity of the vision of St. Simon Stock. The Questions for Dis-cussion are intended for private, class, or study-dub use. Approxi-mately two hundred questions, answerable from the text, are pointed to arousing ~houghtful reflection: for instance, "Did Mary merit to be the Mother of God? . . . Is devotion to Mary optional?" As an instance of the mature balance which characterizes the en-' tire book may be cited the treatment of Marian Visions and Revela-tions. With scores of possible pitfalls, the author carefully dis-tinguishes the meaning and necessity of private and public revela-tion, explaining that "ali the means that we need for salvation are contained in public revelation." Some people, he complains, practi-cally identify their devotion to the Mother of God with recounting the stories of visions and revelations. "On the other hand, through the right attitude we can derive great value from the messages given to us by Our Lady in such genuine apparitions as those at Lourdes and Fatima," whose genuinity is attested by the Church's official ap-proval.-- JOHN A. HARDON, S.J. BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS BRUCE PUBLISHING CO., 400 N. Broadway, Milwaukee 1, Wis. The Catholic College in the World Today. By Edward A. Fitzpatrick. The author, retiring president of Mount Mary College, here weaves into book form a series of addresses about Catholic col-lege education. He stresses the opportunity of the Catholic college to leaven present-day American culture with the riches of Catholic cul-ture, particularly its emphasis on moral and spiritual values and its focus on the importance of the individual. He looks to crusading graduates to assume their manifest duty to carry out this mission. Pp. 269. $6.00. His Heart in Our Work. Thoughts for a Priestl~t Apostolate. Edited by Francis L. Filas, S.J. This book is a collection of articles selected from Alter Christus, the periodical published from 1937 to 1950 as an American quarterly bulletin of The League of Sacerdotal Sanctity. Although the essays here presented were originally meant for priests, to provide them with material for meditation and with exhortation in their work, still they will benefit religious .and others 278 September: 1954 BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS as well. The brevity of the articles (few run over five pages) and the pleasing variety of subjects included (Holy Spirit, Sacred Heart, B1. Virgin, St. Joseph, Apostolate, Prayer, Virtues, Liturgy) m

Issue 12.1 of the Review for Religious, 1953. ; Review t:or ~eligious Volume XII January December, 1953 Publlshed'at ~ THE COLLEGE PRESS Topeka, Kansas , "Edited by THE JESUIT FATHERS SAINT MARY'S COLLEGE St. Marys, Kansas REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS is indexed in ÷he CATHOLIC PERIODICAL INDEX ¯ The C rt:husi ns Jerome Breunig, S.J. ~"HE centuries-old Carthusian Order is breaking ground in the | NewWorld and the eyes of America are watching with interest. Through the generosity of a benefactress and with the approval of the Bishop of Burlington, the Most Rev. Edward F. Ryafi~, a pio-neer band, consisting of two Carthusian priests and two lay brothers with some Americancandid~ates, has established the first ~ommunity at Sky Farm near Whitingham in the Vermont hills. The very name Carthusian is pronounced, with reverence on Catholic lips, and in .many minds it represents the ultimate in austerity and deep spiritual-ity. The coming of the Carthusians brings many questi~ons to mind. Is there place for them today? Aren't they passe, a respected' relic of the past? Just how old are they? Who founded them and why? Do they differ from the Trappists? What do they do? What did they do? How do they live? Is it true that they do not eat meat, that they do not heat their rooms, that they always wear a hairshirt? Are there Carthusian nuns? Many of these and similar questions are answered in the Apos-tolic Constitution of Pius XI, Umbratilem, in the booklet, The Car-thusian Foundation in America, and in tw~o recent books that com.- plement each other: The Cartbusians, which gives a detailed factual' description ,of their life, and The White; Paradise, which is a glowing account of his visit to the chartethouse ~it La Valsainte in.Switzer-land by the gifted autho£-conv~rtI, Peter van der Meer de Walcheren. Mo~t of the information in this article is taken from these four sources. Any questioning of the validity; and modern relevance of the Carthusians should be cut short by Umbratilem, the Constitution issued on July 8, 1924, when the Statutes of the Carthusian Order were. approved in conformity with the new dode of Canon Law. This important document on the contemplative life states clearly at the, outset that Carthusians h~ive chosen the better part, and holds up their life to the, admiration and imitation of all. ".All those, who, according to their .rule~ lead a life of solitude 'remote from the din and follies of" the world, and who not only ~3 JEROME BREUNIG Reoiew for Religious assiduously cbntemplate the divine mysteries and the ~ternal truths, and pou~ forth ardent.and continual prayers to God that his king-- dom may flourish and be daily spread more widely, but who also atone for the sins of other men still more than for their own by mortification, prescribed or voluntary, of mind and body--such indeed must be said to have choser~ the better part, like~ Mary of Bethany. "For no more perfect state and rule of life than that *can be pro-posed for men to take up and embrace, if the Lord calls them to it. Moreover, by the inward holiness of those who lead the solitary life in the silence of the cloister and by their most intimate union with Gbd, is kept brightly shining the halo of' that holiness which the spotless Bride of Jesus Christ holds up to the admiration and imita- ~tion of all." The document also mikes it clear that there is need for Carthu- .sians today. "For, if ever it was needf_ul that there should be ancho; rites of that sort in the Church of God it is most specially expedient nowa'days "when we see so (nany Christians-living without a thought for the things of the next world and utterly regardless of their eter-nal salvation,° giving rein to their desire for earthly pelf and the pleasures of the flesh an'd adopting and exhibiting publicly as well as in their private life pagan manners altogether opposed to the Gospel. ¯ . . It is, besides, easy to understand how they who assiduously fulfil the duty of prayer and penance contribute much l~ore to the increase of the Church and the welfare of mankind than those who labo~ in tilling the Master's field; for unless the former drew down from heaven a shower of divine graces to water the field that" is being tilled, the evangelical laborers would reap forsooth from their toil a more Scanty crop." The Founder An authentic hunger for God led a diocesan priest-educator in the eleventh century to formulate a" way of life that h'appily blends community life with thelife of solitude and keeps the advantages of each form. This life was first put into practice in 1082 by the same priest and six companions at Chartreuse in the Alps of Dauphin~, in Southern France, and endures to our day. From the extant r~cord of tributes after his death, this priest, whom we know as St. Bruno, was one of the great men of his time. Besides noting Bruno's talents as a preacher, writer, and educator, these tributes single out three vir-tues for which the saint was conspicuous: spirit of prayer, extreme January, 1953 THE CARTHUSIANS mortification, and filial devotion to Our Lady, virtues also conspicu-ous in his Order. Born in Cologne, St. Bruno (1030-i l~J)'studied at the episco-pal school at Rbeims. After his ordination he remained at this school for 25 Years as '.teacher~, principal, and "diocesan superintendentl) of schools. After a short term as chancellor of the diocese he evaded the efforts of the clerg~ to make him their bishop by "~scaping" to Chartreuse in 1082. In .I090 Pope Urban II called his former teacher, St. Bruno, to Rome to be his counsellor. The orphaned community wavered in their vocation for a time and later even deserted by.following their founder to Rome, but after a year they returned to their hermitages at Chartreuse. Though Sty. Bruno made the ground plan for the Carthusian Order, it was the fifth general, Guigo the Venerable (1109-1136) wh6 xvrote the Consuetudines, the first Statutes of the Order. "The Consuetudines are the Carthu-sian gospel, Guigo our evangelist and Saint Bruno our founder and lawgiver" (The Carthusians, 17). The Life of Solitude In Rome is a famous statue of St. Bruno by~Houdon. It is so lifelike, the comment is: "It would speak if his rule did not compel him to silence." Silence and solitude, so essential to the Cartbusian life, are insured by providing each monk with a separate hermitage consisting of four distinct rooms and an enclosed ghrden plot. There is a storeroom and work shop, usually on the first floor, and, above, an ante-chamber called the Ave Maria, because it honors a statue of, Our Lady, and an "'inner chamber" or living room. A private wash-room is also provided. In the cell proper the monk has a prayer-stall, desk and book cas~, a bed, and a small table for meals. Except on Sundays and feast days the meals are brought to an opening in each cell. There is never any breakfast and m~at'is never permitted even in sickness. From September 14 to Easter the evening meal is cut down to a collation of dry bread and whatever is the most com-mon drink of the country. Penitential as it is; the diet seems to insure longevity rather than shorten life. The cell is the monk's "living toom." Except for community exercises and the occasional recreation periods the monk never leaves his hermitage. He lives for God and God alone. Here he devotes whole hours to study, to spiritual reading, and to prayer, including mental prayer, the part of the Divine Office not said in choir, the JEROME BREUNIG . Reoieto for Religious Office of Our Lady. and sometimes the Office of the Dead¯ Since "the harp needs a rest,", th~ monk relaxes from time to time with light manual work such as sawing wood for his fire, cultivating his gar-den. making religious articles, and caring for the hermitage. No siesta is permitted and the night's sleep is always broken into two periods of about three and a half hours each by the night Offce. The Comrnunit~ Life The community life which tempers the solitude provides a~ frame-work with a fixed daily'order and sustains the courage of each monk by mutual good example. 'jBrother helped by brother-makes a strong city." The main daily communal exercises are the chanting of the night Office and of Vespers and the conventual Mass. On Sundays and feast days the rest of the Office except Compline is-chanted, meals arc taken in the refectory, and there is a recreation period. Besides there is a weekly walk outside the enclosure.- ,This period is called, the spatiarnenturn and lasts about three and a half hours. Dom I.e Masson an outstanding general of the order'(1675~- 1703). says of this exercise: "It is only with the greatest reluctance that I excuse from the spatiarnentum, and then. on!y to tbe aged. So great, it appears to me. is the utility of this walk for good both of body and soul . More easily and willingly would I exempt a car-thusian monk from the night Office for some days, or from fasts, of th~ Order. than from the spatiarner~tum." (The Cartbusians. 62.) What They Did Onl.y eternity will unfold the~ contribution of the Carthuslan Order to~ the glory, ~: God- and .the salvation of souls. Even in recorded history the order is eminent in providing the Church with saints, beati, and saintly bishops, archbishops, and a few cardinals. Perhaps the greatest s!ng[e contribution is the'treasure of writings in ascetical and m~stical theology. The only wealth of any kind in a charterbouse was to be found in the library. Scbolarship'was always held in high esteem and the monks helped enrich other libraries as well as their own ldy providing both copyists and eminent writers. Besides St. Bruno,' who is said to have written bi~ famou~ commen~ ¯ tary on the Epistles of St. Paul when at Chartreuse, the list of writers includes Ludolf of Saxony, whose Vita Cbris~ti was so influential for centuries~ Dionysius the Carthusian called the Ecstatic Doctor, who has written more than St: Augustine; John Lansperg, who ~_~te of Devotion to the Sacred Heart before St: Margaret Mary l and Lau- danuar~t, 1953 THE CARTHUSIANS rentius Surius, whose Vitae still help supplement the work of the ~3011andists. The official document of the Church Ur~bratilem is quite articu-late about the contribution of the Carthusians to the. religious life. "In his great kindness, God, who is ever attentive to the needs and well-being of his Church, chose Bruno. a man of eminent sanctity, for the work of bringing the contemplative life back to the glory of it~ original integrity: To that intent Bruno founded the Carthusian Order. imbued it thoroughly with his own spirit and provided it with those.laws which might efficaciously induce its members to ad, ,vance speedily along the way of inward sanctity and of the most rigorous penance, to the preclusion of every sort of exterior, ministr) and office: laws which would also impel th~em to persevere with steadfast hearts in the same austere and hard life. And it is a recog-nised fact that through nearly nine hundred years the Carthusians have 'so wel! retained the spirit of their Founder, Father "and Law- , giver that unlike other religious bodies, their Order has never in'~o long a space of time needed any amendment, or, as they say, reform." The badge of the order is appropriate. It is a globe surrounded by~ a cross and seven stars, with the motto: Star crux dum votoitur orbis terrarum The cross remains firm while the world keeps spinning around. If, persecution is a mark of Christ's followers, the Carthusians can certainly, be identified. "They have persecuted Me. they will also persecute you.'" Three Carthusian priors .were among the proto-martyrs of Henry VIII: fifteen more mohks died on the scaffold or starved to death in prison during the English persecution which practically suppressed the order in that country.~ Spain pre-vented a Carthusian foundation in Mexico in 1559, compelled the charterhouses to separate from the order in 1784, and suppressed them in 1835. The, French Revolution was the greatest blow. In ",1789 there were about 122 charterhouses. Almost all,of-them were suppressed, first in France and then throughout Europe as the French armies over-ran the continent. The restored houses in France were again disrupted in 1901 as a result of the Association Laws. Tile. Italian houses were suppressed during the course of the Risorgimento. The Carthusian Order in 1607 had about 260 houses with 2,500 choir monks and 1,300 lay brothers and donn~s. At the pres-ent time there are 18 established charterhouses witil a total of over 600 members. There are four charterhouses in France, five in Italy and Spain, and one each in Switzerland, Jugoslavia, Germany, and England. 7 January, ) 953 The Carthusian Nuns In 1245 Blessed John of Spain,, Prior of,the Charterhouse of Montrieux, was ordered to adapt the Carthusian Rule for a group of nuns at the Abbey of Pr~bayon in Provence. Since then there have never been more than ten convents for Carthusian nuns. The nuns; live in private rooms not separate buildings, have two recreations a day, eat in a common refectory, and are not obliged to wear the hair-shirt. They spend eleven hours a day in prayer, meditation, and work, and are allowed eight hours, sleep. The nuns have always been distinguished for their austere sanctity and strict observance. Out-standing among them ar~ Blessed Beatrix of Ornacieux and St. Rose-line of Villaneuve. Both lived durin'g the fourteenth century. The body of the latter is still incorrupt. At present there are four con-vents for nuns, two in France and two in Italy. BOOKS ABOUT THE CARTHUSIANS The following can be obtained from The Carthusian Foundation, Sky Farm, Whitingham, Vermont: The'Church and the Carthusians. The teaching of Pope Plus XI as contained in the Apostolic Constitution Umbratilem; Introduction, translation and Latin text. Pp. 18. $.10. The Cartbusian Foundation in America. Pp. 24. With pictures and illustrations, $.25. The Carthusians: Origin --- Splrlt--Familg Life. First p~inted in 1924. Re-printed in 1952 by the Newman Press, Westminster, Maryland, Pp. 107. $1.75. The White Paradise. The Life of the Carthusians. By Peter van der Meer de Walcheren. Witha preface by ~Jacques Maritain. David McKay Co., New York, 1952., Pp. 91. $2~00. THEOLO~Cf DI~EST Theglogy Digest, a new publication edited by ' Jesuits at. St. Mary's College, St. Marys, Kansas, is for priests, religious, seminarians, and laity who are interested 'in present-day theological thought, but who perhaps find it hard to maintain and cultivate this interest. The Digest aims to help such readers to ke~p informed of current problems and developments in theology by presenting a concise sampling of current periodical writings in America and Europe. The digests-deal with the vari-ous branches of theological learning--Apologetics. Dogmatic Theology, Scripture, Moral Theology and Canon Law, Ascetics, Liturgy, and Church History--with emphasis on the speculative rather tbar~ the pastoral aspects of theology. Published three times yearly. Subscription price in U,S.A.] Canada, and coun-tries of Pan-American Union, $2~00. Foreign, $2.25. Send subscriptions to: Theology Digest, 1015 Central, Kansas City 5, Missouri. "So Trust in God as it:. ," Augustine G. Ellard, S.J. ! [AUTHOR'S NOTE: For nearly everything in this brief account I gladly and grate-fully acknowledge my indebtedness to the article by C. A. Kneller, S.J., "'Ein Wort cleshl, lonatius oon Logola,'" in the Zeitschri?t t~uer Aszese und M~stil~, 1928, 253-'257. There one will find a fuller treatment of the matter and the original texts.] ONE could hardly be familiar with modern spiritual literature and not have encounfered one or the other, or both, of these sayings attributed to St. Ignatius: "So trust in God as if all success depended on yourself, and not at all on God; but take all pains' as if you were going to do nothing, and God alone every-thing"; and the other: "S~ trust in Go.d as. if all success depended on Him, and not at all on yourself; but take all pains as if God were going to do, nothing, and you alone everything." Both rules have become commonplace. The firsl~, more paradoxical, form occurs in various editions of the Thesaurus Spiritualis Soci~tatis desu, an official collection of documents of prime importance in the spiritual formation of mem-bers of the Society and in the hands of all of them. This version was first published by the Hungarian Jesuit Gabriel Hevenesi (d. 17i5) in a little book entitled lgnatian Sparks. For every,day of the year he proposed an aphorism of St. Ignatius. They were to have some-thing of the effect, if we may use an anachronistic cgmparison, of a spark-plug upon one's daily life and fervor. The book rhust have been excellent: it went through dozens of editions, one of them being ~s late as 1909. This di'ctum, "So trust . .," is put down for January 2, a fact which suggests that in' Hevenesi's opinion it was one of the best of the maxims which he' found in St. Ignatius. The dictum has been censured as contrary to the Catholic doc-trine of grace. It implies, the objection runs~ that man carinot do anything, not even merit, toward his eternal salvation. But the maxim is not concerned with how divine and human activities are united. I~t purports to give a working rule on how to combine one's expectations with one's exertions. It has.also been argued that the saying does not make sense, and that therefore it could not have been uttered b'y St. Ignatius. In an article on "The Tensions of Catholicism" in ThoughtI 1. Thought (December, 1950), 630-662. AUGUSTINE ~. F.LLARD Reoieuv/'or Religious Father Andr~ Godin.states that Catholic hope can deteriorate in two different vfay:~. The first is.by way of "the rationalizing tendency: to march toward salvation with assurance and in a spirit of con-quest." The secohd is the "affective tendency: to attain salvation ~hrough fear and tremblirig.'; The true "Catholic equilibrium of "the two tendencies" is "to act as though all depends on God and to pray as though all depends on us." He notes that ."the formula is sometimes r~versed, but then it ,s~ems extremely banal.''~ Father Godin takes "this celebrated formula" to mean that in Christian action there should be both humility and hope, and in pra, yer anguish as wellas ardent appeal. It excludes both Quietism and Pelagian-ism. One's life becomes a unified whole, in which there are both "the tranquil certitude of Christian hope 'and the. anxiety of invocation in .prayer." . If one were perfectly united with God and as it' were identified with Him, one might well trust in God as if all success depended on oneself, that is, really, on God, and tak~ all ~pains as if. God were going to do everything, that is again, God and oneself co-operating with Him. ~Father Pinard de la Boullaye, in his Saint Ignace de Logolq Directeur d'Ames, quotes it in French translation. He ~ays that it was inspired.by the doctrine of St. Paul: "I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth" (I Cor.3:7). It should warn us, he adds, not to be negligent in any way on the-plea that after all it is reallyGod who accomplisl~es things. But Father Pinard de la Boullaye seems to betray a sense that there is something wrong with this direction by supplementing it immediately with another "quota-tlon from St. Ignatius (and Hevenesi also) strongly emphasizing foresight and constant self-correction: "To plan in advance,, what one is going to do, and then to examine what one has done, are two of the most.reliable rules for acting r.ightly,''~ The counsel to trust in God as if nothing depended on Him, and to exert oneself as if one's efforts were to have no effect, seems indeed to be more than a paradox or an oxymoron: how understand it as something other than a perfect absurdity? One so advised might ask, "How am I to go about formulating such a trust? What is the point in doing something expressly acknowledged to be of no avail ?" Although this first form of the maxim is in every Jesuit's 2.Ibiil~, p: 64~. 3. Thesaucu~"Spiritualis Societatis Jeiu (Bruges, 1897); No. 9, p. 604.~ 10 ~la'nua~'~ 1953 So TRUST IN G6D Tbesaurus~ oddly enough it is not the one more Commonly heard, or encountered. One is more, apt~ to meet, substantially this advice:. "Trust in God as if everythifig depended on Him, and exeft yourself as if you were'doing everything by' yourself." Given "this contrary and more intelligible .turn, the principle is said to ha;ce been a favorite guiding rule of the late eminent Arch-, bishop John I~eland of St. Paul. However, with him it underwent a further minor change: "We ought to act as if everything depe'nded on us, and pratt as if everything depended on God." Praying is sub-stituted for trusting. One of the most famohs pulpit-orators of the last century, namely, the French Jes6it Xavier de Ravignan, distin-guished for the conferences he used to give in the Cathedral of Notre Dame, Paris, in advising some of his younger religious brethren how to prepare themselves for preaching, said: "Listen to St. Ignatius, " who gives us this'meaningful counsel, 'One must do all as if one were alone in acting, and one must expect everything from God as if one ¯ had done nothing.' " This form of the saying is very common' on leaflets given to .retreatants, on :religious-calendars, holy cards, and so on. Another slightly different turn given to it is this: "Let Us ;act as bravely as if we could d6 everything, and still abandon ourselves to Providence as if we ~ould do nothing." A person who hears, that St. Ignatius advises one to act a~ if everything depended on ~ne's self and then again 'as-if nothing at all depended on one's self, may rightly '.wonder what St. Ignatius really said. Reason for wondering is enhanced when one notices the long interval of time that elapsed between Ignatius and Hevenesi, namely, .150 years. If, too, one should try to. find the' original 'words of St. Ignatius in hi~ printed works or in other first-class sources, one's wonderment could become still greater. Neither the first nor the second form of this saying is a direct~ quotation from the saint. However, the substance or idea of toe ~econd form does occur repeat-edly in the documents written by him or by his contemporar{es about Hevenesi gives, as his authority the Bologna Jesuit Carnoli (d. 1.693), Who published a life.of St. Ignatius at Venice ~n 1680. In a chapter on the faith and hope of the saint he relates the follow-ing incident. Off a certain occasion Ignatius, accompanied by Riba-' deneira, a confidant and frequent companion of his, called on~ the Spanish ambassador in Rome, the Marquis de Sarria, ~nd met with a cool reception. Ighatius's suspicion ~as that the M~rquis was piqued AUGUSTINE (3. ELLARD . . Review for Religious because~ his influence with the Pope was not considered great and his intercession was not much in demand. Then Ignatius explained to Ribadeneira that thirty years earlier the Lord had taught him to employ all permissible means in the divine service, but not to build his hope upon them. Hence neither upon the noble Marquis nor upon any other creature would he base his confidence. Carnoli does not give his source. In fact at that time it was not in print. Now it is, namely Ribadeneira's work, De Actis P. N. lgnatii.* In No. 108, the pertinent place, Ribadeneira writes: "He said to me that he thought of telling him that thirty-six [sic] years ago our Lord had given him to understand that in. matters of His holy servic'e, he ought to use all the possible legitimate means, but then to place his confidence in God, not in those means." Ribadeneira himself wrote a biography of St. Ignatius, and in the account of this visit quotes him as saying: "I shall tell him [the Ambassador], an'd I shall say it plainly, that thirty years [sic] ago I 'learned from God that in doing the work of God, I should seek all helps, but in such a way that I consider my hope to rest, not in those aids, but in Godralmselr. . s In a letter to St. Francis Borgia St. Ignatius gives expression to the same thought: "Looking to God our Lord in all things . considering it wrong to trust and hope merely in any means or efforts by themselves, and also not regarding it as secure to trust entirely in God without using the help He has .given, since it seems to me in our Lord that I ought to avail myself of all aids . I have ordered . "6 I The same Ribadeneira wrote a treatise entitled "On the Method of St. Ignatius in Governing," and in it he says: "In the matters belonging to the service of ou~ Lord that he undertook, he employed all human, means to succeed in them, with as-much care and efficiency as if success depended on them, and" he confided in God and kept himself dependent on divine Providence as if all those other human means that he took were of no effect.''7 Pinard de la B'oullaye gives several other .references to old writings which witness to St. Igna-tius's use of the sam~ principle.8 4. Monumenta Historica Societatis Jesu, Monumenta lgnatiana, Set. ,~, v. 1. 391 ; cf. 400. ¯ 5. Pedro de Ribadeneira, Vitq lgnatii Loyolae (Cologne, 1602), Lib. 5. cap. 9, 615ff. 6. Monumenta'Ignatiana, Set. 1, t~. 9 (Sept. 17, 1555), 626. 7. Ibid., Set. 4, v. 1, 466. 8. Pinard de la Boullaye, Saint lgnace de Loyola Directeur d'Ame~, p. 299. 12 January, 1953 So TRUST IN GOD This principle is also characteristic of the spirit that animates the Constitutions of the Society of Jesus. In one of the most important parts of them, after stating that, to preser;;'e and perfect the Society, supernatural means should be given the priority, the Founder says: "This foundation having been laid . natural means also . . . are conducive to the same end; if however they be learned and used sin-cerely and only for the service of God, not that our trust should rest upon them, but rather that, in accordance with the order of His supreme providence, we should in this way co-operate with divine grace.''9 The very same idea, in almost identical words, is proposed in the rules for priests.1° Perhaps the latest development in the long and complicated record of this aphorism :is the,following. About the beginning of 1951 Father Joseph De Lapparent, editor of Vari~t~s Sinotogiques~ wrote to Father John B. Janssens, the General of the Society, com-plaining'that the text of this dictum as it occurs in all the different editions of the Thesaurus Spiritualis was defective. In reply Father Janssens says: "Although that form of.the saying is not without -some sense~ it must be confessed that it is twisted and far-fetched, and does not perfectly correspond to very many sayings of St. Igna-tius, as one can see in the notes already published by your Rever, encen and in the study of Father C. A. Kneller, S.J., "Ein Wort des hl. Iqnatius yon Loyola.' "'~ Father Janssens goes on to say that in getting out the Spanish edition of the Thesaurus pubiished at San-tander in 1935 the'editor did well to change th~ text to: "So trust God as if all success depended on Him, not at all from, yourself; however, exert yourself as if God were going to do nothing, and you alone.everything."~3 ~ Before the times if St. Ig.natius the well known theologian, spir-itual writer, and chancellor of the University of Paris, John Gerson (1363-1429) had said something very. similar: "Presumption re-fuses to co-operate with God, and despair will not wait for ~he co-operation of God with it. The middle course is so to act that everything may be attributed to divine giace, and so to trust in grace 9. Constitutiones Societatis desu, Pars X, n. 3. 10. Regulae Societatis desu (1932), No. 14. 11. Nouvelles de la Mission de Shanghai, Sept. 15, 1944; Oct. 31, 1947; Dec. 30, 1948. 12. Zeitschrift fuer Aszese und M~stik (1928), 253-257. , 13. Acta Romana Soc&tatis desu (1952), 137-138. 13 AUGUSTINE G. ELLARD as not to give up one's own activity, doing what one can.'°14 Bossuet's conception of the matter was thus expressed: "One ought to expect everything from God, but nevertheless t0 act also. For one ought not only to pray as if God alone should do every-thing, but also to do what one can, and use one's own will with. grace, for everything is done through this co-operation. But neither should we ever forget that it is always God who takes'the initiative, for there precisely lies the basis of humility.''is St. Vincent de Paul puts it ~hus: "I cons,ider it a good maxim to avail oneself of all the means that are licit and possible for the glory of God, as if God should not help us~ provided that one expect all things' from His divine Providence, as if we did not have any human means."16 An Englishman, who like St. Ignatius, has a name in history as a military 'man and a religious leader, but was~ very unlike him in other respects, namely, Oliver Cromwell, is said to have given his followers this admonition: "Put your trust in G6d; but mind to keep your powder dry!" 14. "'De Si~nis Bonis et Malis;'" Opera (Ed. Dupin)~ III, 158 d. 15. Meditations sur l'Etaangile (40e jour).: cf. Pinard de la Boullaye, op.cit.29.9. 16. Letter t6 Markus Cogl~e (April 24, 1652), Oeuvres (Ed. P2 Coste, Paris, 19.21) ,rlV, 366. EXAMINATION OF THE PAST TWENTY-FIVE YEARS" , Proposed for Superior.s General 1. Has the love of God grown in proportion to the graces offered: daily Com-mumon, develop~ent.'of liturgical life, deeper study of Holy Scripture, increased de-vouon to Our Lady, doctrine of the Mystical Body, and way of spiritual childhood? Are there more souls of prayer in our communities? Is there a deeper sense-of God? 2. Has true charity increased within our communitie~ in thought, word, and deed? 3. Is tension caused by the quantity of work undertaken, to the detriment of patience and humility which ,should win hearts and draw them, to the religious life? -4. Has motherly charity in government rather than mere administration given a true idea of the holocaust of charity? '5. Has the pursuit of technical and p~ofessional progress obscured ~he need fo~ poverty, disinterestedness, a, nd0great lo~;e for the poor? / 6. Is the Gospelspirit of self-denial, penance, and reparation not only unques-tioned but stronger~to defend religious holiness against the spirit of the world? 7. Is more consideration given to religious who are tired and over-strained, and ".what means are taken to guard against that conditibn? 8. Have fi'iendliness between congregations, collaboration in work, the "spirit of the Church," increased? 14 Lengt:h ot: Lil:e of Religious Men: Marianist:s, 1820-195! Gerald J. Schnepp; S.M~ and John T. Kurz, S.M. ~'JHAT is the average age at death of male religious? Has their W~ length ~o~ life increased, decade by decade, with the rest of the population? Are there differences by country? Finally, how does the average age at de~ath of religious' compare with that of males in the general pdpulation? Answers to these questions are now availhble for 2,380 Marian-ists who died in the Society of Mary between 1820 and 1951. Source of the st~atistics is the latest edition of the Necrolo~g of ibe Societg of Marg which lists the name, age at death, and year and place of death of each religious who persevered.1, The Soci~ety of Mary was founded in 1817 in Bordeaux,-France, "by Very Reverend William Joseph Cha~inade: during the decade 1820-29, seven religious2 were called to their eternal reward and in succeeding decades, increasing numbers died. The congregation comprises three categories of persons: Priests, Teaching Brothers, and Working Brbthers. For the present study,s no breakdown by categories is given because, first, the Necrol-ogo does not distinguish the two types of Brothers, and secondly, the number of Priests is too small (perhaps ten per cent of the total) tO supply an adequate sample over the 130-year period covered.4 Let us take up, in order, the answers to the four questions posed. The mean or average age at death of the entire group of 2,380 Marianists is 55.7 years, with a standard deviation of 22.4 years: 1purpose of, the Necrology (Dayton, Ohio: Mount St. John Press. 1952), which also lists the exact day of death, is to recall to the li~'ing members the names of the deceased, for remembrance in their prayers: the list for the following day is read in community after the evening meal. 2Here and throughout the article is included the first Marianist to die, Brother An-thony Cantau, who passed away in Bordeaux in 1819. 3The present article is based on John Kurz, S.M., Length of Life of Male Religious (Unpublished M.A. thesis, Saint Louis University, 1952). 4Research on the lengih of life of religious priests' w~uld be of interest in the light of one study which shows that, the average age 'at death of Catholic priests in Eng-land is five per cent above the average for the general population. See Louis J. Dublin, Alfred J. Lotka, and Mortimer Spiegelman, Length of Life (New York: The RonaldPress Co., 1949), p. 219. '. 15 GERALD J. SCHNEPP and JOHN T. KURZ Ret~iew for Religious this means that approximately two-thirds of the ages at death fall between 33.3 years and 78.1 y~ars. The median age, or mid-point ¯ in the distribution, is 61.5 years. A total of 844 Marianists, or 35.5 per cent, lived out the traditional "thr~e score and ten" 70 years or beyond. These figures, it should be kfiown, are weighted by com-paratively low ages at death in the earlier years of the S'ociety. Even so, they indicate a fairly "respectable" life span. Measured in terms of service, assuming that each Marianist began his active life at the age of 18, this represents 89,726 years of service which the Society of Mary has given to the Church from 1820 to 1951.5 Concerning the second question, it is known that life expectancy all over the civilized world has been increasing during the past 130 years, the period of time covered by this study. Improved living con-ditions, better nutrition, and advances in medical science undoubt-edly all played a part in this development. Likewise, the extraordi-nary development of science and industry, along with the improve-ments in agricultural and processing techniques c6mbined to improve the quality, quantity, and variety of food. These factors had an in-fluence on the lives of all who lived during this period, including the religious who are the subjects of.this study. The facts concerning the 2,380 Marianists are presented in Table 1. During the first three decades, all deaths (except one) occurred at age 54 or less, and hence the mean ages at death are very low 23.9, 25.9, and 28.1 years. This is to be expected in a young society, since, if any deaths are to occur, they are likely to be deaths of rela-tively young religious. The length of time involved is not sufficient to enable men who joined at the usual age 15 to 25 to reach much beyond 50. But there is a steady upward progression through-out the series, with slight breaks during the 1910-19 and 1940-49 decades. The explanation ~eems to be that both were decades in which world wars occurred; in some European countries, religious in the younger age brackets served in the armed for~es, and some of them were killed. Further, during the '1910-1919 decade, the influenza epidemic interfered with normal life expectancy. In general, then, Table 1 indicates that Marianist life expectancy,has increased, decade by decade, reaching a high of 67.2 years during the 1930-39 decade. In order to make comparisons with the general population, how-ever, it is necessary to consider~ the figures for each country separately; SThis figure would be considerably larger, of course, if the services of those still living were included. Z TABLE I--Ageat Death and Decade of Death (1820-19Sl) for 2,380 ,Mar;an;sts 1820-29 1830;39 AGE GROUP 1 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 23.9 3 8 2 0 1 ~1 1 0 0 O 0 0 0 " 0 0 0 16 25.9 1840~49 12 14 13 2 4 4 1 1 0 0 °0 0 0 0 0 1 52 28.1 -- 1850:59 12 21 17 9 6 5 5 3 I 3 2 0 1 0 1 0 86 32.4 14.8 1860-69 5 I0 18 I1 6 8 4 8 6 5 '5 4 1 0 0 0 91 40.7 16.4 1870:79 14 28 19 I1 I0 6 10 I0 10 13 14 15 5 3 0 0 168 44.3 19.5 1880-89 1.7 22 13 10 15 8 12 10 22 17 I~ 16 8 5 ,,3 1 193 48.2 20.4 1890-99 18 34 ~20 9 5 ~,6 13 13 17 23 29 32 22 13 1 0 255 :51.8 "21.6 1900-09 5 28 I0 '4 8 "12 5 11 '17 26 32 37 30 18 8 5 256 59.2 20.6 I~10-'19 12 34 18 19 16 l0 8 16 12 23 39 46 41 30 10 3 337 57.1 20.1 1920-29 6. 23 7 . 7 4 7 I1 15 22 19 28 37 35 25 13 3 262 61.1 20.2 1930-39 2 lO 14 ll 9. 1 8 14 19 ~l 34 52 56 36 34- 14 345 67.2 18.0 1940-49 3 II 21 7 lO 6 3 8 ll 20 17 37 46 60 15 13 288 66.1 20.6 1950-51 1 .2 0 0 0 0 2 3 0 5 3 2 2 2 2 0 24 61.2 Total 111 248,175 100 94 74 83 112 137 185-217 278 247 192 87 40 2380 55.7 22.4 GERALD J. SCHNEPP and JOHN T. KURZ ¯ Reoiew for Religious this will help~to answer the third question. °World-wide figures, even if available,¯ would be misleading, since the f~ctors affecting length of life do not operate uniformly all over. It is also necessary to consider tbh figures for males 'only, since female.life expectancy is generally greater; for example, in the United States at the present time, male life expectancy is about 66 years, whereas femal~ life expectancy is about 71 years. Ten countries are represented as places of death for the 2,380 Mafianists.included in this study bui~ com-parative figures can be presented only for' France (1,314 deaths) ; Switzerland (171) ; United States (370) ; Belgium (141) ; ~and Austria (11i6) ' Statistics for .Spain (175 deaths) are unavailable in regard to the male population; smallness of sample rules out com-parative figures for the'other four countries: Japan (52) ; Italy (22) ; Russia (17) ; and C~na (2). TABLE 2 I-ireExpectancy o~r Males af Age 17 ~n France, Swlfzerland, United States, Belgium, and Austria Compared to Age at Death of MaHanlsts, by SpeciRed Time Intervals MARIANISTS WHO DIED IN FRANCE Years Average Age I. FRANCE Life Expect. atAge 17(1) ~861-65 63.4 1877-81 62.9 1891-00 63.8, 1898-03 63.3 1908-13 64.4 1920-23 65.9 1933-38 66.9 II. SWI'I'ZERLAN D 1910-11 65.5 1921-30 68.4 1931-41 70.0 I939-44 71.3 III. UNITED STATES 1930-39 70.1 1945 72.1 IV. AUSTRIA 1930-33 68.4 V. BELGIUM 1928-32 69.2 Years at Death 1860-69 42.0 1870-79 45.6 1890-99 55.2 1900-09 62.8 1910-19 " 53.3 1920-29 66.0 1930-39 ~ 71.0 MARIANISTS WHO blED 1910-19 ' 66.6 1920-29 67.5 1930-39 70.8 1940-49 74.9 No. of Deaths During Decade 77 ,153 223 129 1'99 97 116 IN" SWITZERLAND. 30 40 MARIANISTS WHO DIED IN THE UNITED STATES 1"930-39 - 70.3 ~' 87 1940-49 68.6 MARIANISTS', WHO DIEDIN AUSTRIA 1930-39 71.4 27 MARIANISTS WHO DIEDIN BELGIUM 1920-29 70.0 32 (1) Life Expectancy at Age 17 computed by interpolation from Dublin, Lotka, and Spiegelman, Length of Life and here expressed, for comparison, as expected age at death (li{e expectancy at 17, plus 17). References for the various countries: France, p. 346 ; Switzerland,' p. 348 ; United States, p, 324 ; Austria and Belgium, p. 346. January, 1953 LENGTH OF LIFE As is noted from Table 2; the comparisons are not perfect, "be-cause statistics from the various countries are not always available by decades. Since it may be assumed that all the Marianists had sur-vived at least the first 17 years of life (17 is the ordinary age for taking first vows), the figures, for the various countries are presented on the basis of life expectancy at age 17. A cursory examination of the tables will bear out this general conclusion: Mariani~t life ex-pectancy is about the same as, or somewhat more favorable than, that of the general male population of each country in the years since 1900; prior to' that time,. Marianist life .expectancy was somewhat lower, and in the early years of the Society; considerably lower, than the general male life expectancy. Another way of looking at this is to return to the figures in Table I. If only the 1,512 Marianists who died since 1900 are considered, it is found that 712 or 47.1 per cent lived to age 70 or beyond. Another matter of interest is the average length of life by coun-try. Tbis is available for our study but not for the male population of the ten countries over the span of years that Marianists have been working in those countries. The figures, in' order from highest to lowest, are: Belgium, 69.2 years; Switzerland, 65.8 years; United States, 60.5 years: Italy, 58.4 years: Spain, 57.5 years;: France, 53.6 years: Austria, 52.9 years: Japan, 46.8 years; Russia, 39.8 years; and'China, 22.5 year~. It should again be pointed out that these averages are b;]sed on a small number of cases in-,regard" to Japan, Italy, Russia, and China. For the rest, cautious comparison with the over-all average of 55.7 years seems to be justified. The only couff-tries with a large number of deaths which fall below this. general average are France and Austria. Compulsory military service and war undoubtedly are factors in both cases; and, for France, the cradle of the Society, it must be remembered that figures extend back to 1820 when general life'expectancy was not so high as it became in later years. The over-all conclusion, from this study is that life expectancy of Marianists for the past 50 years has been about the same as that of the general male population. Since the unmarried population has a lower life expectancy than the general population,6 ~tbese Marianist figures demand some explanation. Why do these Marianists-- 6"Among white males at ages 20 and over in the United States in 1940, the single had a death rate just 1 2/5 times that of the married." Dublin, Lotka, and Spiegelma~, op. cir., p. 140. 19 GERALD J. SCHNEPP and JOHN T. KURZ Ret~iew for Religious all unmarried of course--have a higher life expectancy than 'other unmarried males in the population? Explanations readily suggest themselves: the screening process by which only healthy persons are accepted in'to the congregation; the fact that most of these men were male teachers, an occupational classification with a higher than aver-age life expectancy? lack of financial and dbmestic worries; regular-ity of life, i~ncluding regular hours for prayer, work~ recreation, meals, and sleep; easy access to good medical care; and, in the United States, exemption from military service. Less certain as a factor is the loss, through defection, of individuals who, if they had perse-vered, might tend to decrease the average age at death. Although it is impossible to state, from the present study, that these are the factors at work, they are mentioned here as suggestions for a more ambitious project which might be undertaken in the future. It would also be profitable to make similar studies of other religious orders and con-gregations of men and of women; to consider Priests and Brothers separately; and to make some inquiries int.o the causes of death. The general value of such studies is to provide an answer to the recurring criticism that religious life, from a physical and/or psycho-logical point of view, is unnatural and harmful. For the particular order or con. gregat!on, such studies are valuable in guiding the ad-ministration in such matters as recommendation of religious for ad-vanced studies; appointments to serve as superiors: .policies on diet and medical care; adaptation of religious life to modern conditions; and provision for the aged members who, according to all indica-tions, will be progressively more numerous in the future, propor-tionately, than ever before. Since these considerations may seem to put too much emphasis on the natural, it must not be overlooked that the Will of God in regard to the death of each religious is a fact; however, we may be certain that God does not prohibit but rather commands that all natural means be used to prolong that life as long as possible. 7Ibid, p. 219. OUR CONTRIBUTORS THOMAS SULLIVAN, the designer of a special Communion card for patients (REVIEW, Sept. 1952, p. 248),is chaplain at St. Luke,s Hospital, Aberdeen, South Dakota. GERALD J. SCHNEPP and ALBERT MUNTSCH are-professors of sociology at St. Louis University, St. Louis, ,Missouri; the latter has been teaching 49 years. JOSEPH F. GALLEN teaches canon law at Woodstock College, Wood-itock. Maryland. AUGUSTINE G. ELLARD and JEROME BREUNIG are members of' the editorial board. 20 Canonical oVisi!:at:ion ot: Nigher Superiors ,Joseph F. GaIlen, S.J. THE visitation of the houses 9f a religious institute by the higher. superiors and the local Ordinary, since it is prescribed by canons 511-512, is called the canonical visitation. The pur-pose of this article is to explain the visitation of higher superiors. 1) Frequencg of visitation. The Code of Canon Law does not determine the frequency of the visitation of higher superiors. In the practice of the Sacred Congregation of Religious in appro',;ing the constitutions of lay congregations, which is and should be closely imitated by diocesan institutes, the far more common norm is ~hat the superior general, personally or throug~ anothe~ religious, visits the entire congregation at least every three years, even in congrega-tions that are divided into provinces. Many institutes not divided into provinces, realizing that they lack the customary annual visita-tion of a provincial; prescribe a greater frequency of visitation by the superior general, for example, every second year, at least every second year, or annually. This desirable greater frequency cannot be pre, scribed in many congregations because of their large number of sub-~ jects, the great territorial extent of the institute, or both, A much lower number of congregations command a visitation by the superior general only once every six years, but at least this is commanded in the .practice of.the Holy See for lay institutes, even in those that are very extensive and large. By far the greater number of institutes im-pose an annual visitation by the provincial; a small number limit this obligation to one visitation in three years or two in three years. The annual visitation' is the much more preferable norm and it may always be made, even when not commanded by the constitutions. Some constitutions permit the provincial ~o omit the visitation during the year that the house has been or is to be visited by the supe-rior generhl, but a prudent provincial will hesitate to use this privi-lege unless some rare business of greater moment demands or counsels the omission of the visitation. A provincial cannot make the annual appoint.ments satisfactorily to himself or to others unless he knows both his subjects and the facts. 2) Moral oblioation of making the visitation. Canon 511 per- 2.1 JOSEPH F. GALLEN Review for Relfgious mits .the particular constitutions to determine the frequency and even to omit any prescription, as to the frequency of the visitation. If the constitutions have 'commanded a determined frequency, canon 511 imposes an obligation immediately in conscience on the higher supe-riors to make the visitation according to this frequency. The omis-sion 'of the visitation, without a justifying, reason, is thus a sin. Many canonicalauthors hold that this obligation is grave.1 The~sin .is certainly.grave if the culpable omission of the visitation is the ~:ause of the existence or continuance of a serious relaxation of reli- :gious discipline or of any another seriously harmful situatio'n.2 3) The obligation is personal. Canon 511 permits a higher :superior to designate another to make the prescribed visitation only when he is l~gitimately prevented from doing so himself. Legitimate impediments are the following and others of about the same import: sickness, infirmity, old age, the great territorial extent or large num-ber of subjects of the institute or province, other business 'of serious mom, ent, and long or frequent absences on visitation that impede the proper government of the institute or province. It is evident' that such reasons will frequently excuse from only part of the visitation': Houses omitted from a visitation should ordinarily be given the pref-erence in the following visitation. A few of the excusi.ng reasons will lose" some and even all of their cogency if the higher superior is given an efficient secretary and freed from the work of a typist' and clerk. The lack of proper "courtesy is also a time-consuming element in the lives of higher superiors. Matter~ that fall within the compe-tence of local superiors should not be brought to higher superiors. Subjects should ordinarily not seek an interview for matters that can be despatched by letter. Whgn an interview is necessary, proper courtesy demands that a subject request an interview by'l~tter. The telephone should be used only when a request or a matter is urgent. It.is obviously inconsiderate and discourteous to drop in on a higher superior at any time and to expect an interview. We can .all al~o render the lives of higher superiors more useful, fruitful, and peace-ful by coming to the point quickly and sticking to it. Reasons ex-cusing from making the visitation are to be interpreted more liberally for the superior general than for the provincial. 1. Beste, 335; De Carlo, n~ 92: Fanfani, n. 70; Fine, 981: Gerster, 263; Geser, q. 364; Piatus Montensis, ,,L 636; Pruemmer, q. 170; Schaefer, a. 558; Vromant, n, 396, 2); Wernz-Vidal, III, n. 145. ¯ 2. Cf. Wernz-Vidal, III, n. 148. 22 danuar~lo 1953 : CANONI~U., VISITATION The'.understanding of the constitutions in a particular institute may be that the higher superior has full liberty either to make the visitation personally or to delegate another as visitor. This interpre-tation is more likely to be verified if the constitutions omit the.clause of candn 511, "if legitimately impeded," and is far more readily ad-mitted for the superior general than for the provincial. Aliteral in-terpretation of canon 511 leads to the conclusion that a higher supe-rior must delegate another for any visitation that he cannot make personally. This is also the: teaching of authors and is at least gen-erally true. However, if a personal visitation is mostrarely omitted, I do notbelieve that there exists a certain obligation to delegate an-other as visitor unless a, situation in the institute, province, or house clearly demands a visitation. Higher superiors are to be slow to ex-cuse themselves and to delegate a visitor. Su,bjects quite generally find it difficult to talk to a-delegated visitor. 4) Constitutions that do not prescribe ~isitations. Canon 511 does not directly command higher superiors to make visitations; it merely enforces any obligation of visitation imposed by the constitu-tions., If the particular constitutions do not impose a visitation, the higher superior has no.obligation but he always has the right of making a visitation. Some constitutions do not oblige the superior general to make visitations, but this would be unthinkable in the case of a provincial and also in that of a superior general of an institute not divided into provinces, , Canon ~I 1 is principally concerned with centralized institutes and thus with general and provin'cial superiors, who are the higher superiors in such institutes. These institutes can also have superiors of vice-provinces, quasi-provinces, regions, missions, districts, and vicariates, who should, as a general principle, follow the same norms-of visitation 'and of frequency as provincials. The canon also extends to the superiors of monastic congregations and confed.erations and ac-cordingly now affects the superior general or president lind regional superiors in federations and confederatiohs of nuns established cording to the counsel of the apostolic constit.ution, Sponsa Christi. ~,The constitutions of some institutes of ,religious. women factu-' ally consisting of many houses and engaged in the active life., contain no prescriptions on visitation, because by law they, are nuns or.con-. gregations of sisters whoseconstitutions.have been,taken from orders of nuns. The mothers superior of such institutes should make visita-tions according to the norms detailed-abo~e for .superiors general. 23 JOSEPH F. GALLEN Reoieto for Religious Theseinstitutes are factually centralized, and the purpose of a visita-tion is at least as necessary in them as in a canonically centralized in-stitute. 5) Designation of a delegated oisitor. The usual norm of con-stitutions of brothers and sisters permits a superior general to appoint -a visitor for a particular matter or an individual house but demands the consent of the general council for the delegation of a visitor for the entire congregation if this visitor is not a member of the general council.3 Some constitutions extend the necessity of ~his consent to any delegated general visitor and to a visitor designated by the supe-rior general for an entire province. The same norm ordinarily regu-lates the nec, essity of the consent of his council in the delegation of a visitor by a provincial superior. 6) Companion of oisitor. The constitutions of brothers and sisters almost universally prescribe that a superior general, provincial, or delegated visitor is to have a religious of perpetual vows as com-panion. 4 The companion can be of great assistance to the visitor by handling the latter's correspondence. He could also be delegated for the visitation of' pl.aces, i.e., the chapel and sacristy, cloister, refectory, kitchen, recreation or common room, library, and the living quarters of the religious. The whole house shofild be visited'. The general or provincial bursai would frequently be an apt companion. He could examine the books and investigate thoroughly the financial and material condition of the house. 7) Purpose of ~isitation. The 'importance that the Church places on the visitation of higher superiors and the seriousness with which canonical authors consider its obligation manifest evidently that the visitation is not to degenerate into a mere ~egal formality. The primary purpose is to learn and correct defects of religious dis-cipline, s "This includes the observance of the vows, "the laves, decrees, and. instructions of the Holy See, the constitutions, legitimate cus-toms, ordinations of the general chapter, and the regulations of higher superiors. Such a purpose implies the encouragement, of the fervent, the prudent correction of delinquents, and the prescribing of apt means to restore, preserve, and increase fait.hful and constant ob-servance. Higher superiors are to ax;oid the energy of the reformer but they-are also to shun the passivity of the quietist. Some people 3. Cf. Normae, nn. 256: 271, 9*. 4. 'Cf. Normae, n. 257. 5. Cf. Wernz-Vidal, III, n. 148. 24 January, 1953 VISITATION hold that the least government is the best government; others incline to the view that the worst government is no government. If a local Ordinary finds a serious situation in any house in his canonical vis-itation, the conclusion is almost infallible that higher superiors have been derelict in their duty. A paternal or maternal government does not exclude in religious superiors,, as it does not in our Holy Motherl the Church, decisive action when this is demanded by the circum-stances. The higher superior is~also to learn the spiritual and tem-poral needs and desires of subjects and to grant these according to the principles of the religious lifel the common good, and prudence. The purpose of the visita,tion is also to investigate the govern-ment of provincial and local superiors and the administration of the temporal property of the house and province. Defects of govern-ment and administration are to be prudently corrected. There is a general need of clarity and emphasis on the fact that the investigation of government is only a secondary purpose of the visitation. Too many religious prepare for an interview with a superior general or provincial with only one principle in mind: what is wrong with the superior and with the officials? The primary norm of the prepara: tion should be: what is wrong with me? Higher superiors should protect the good name and authority of local superiors, they should remember that in a doub~ ~he presumption favors the superior, bu~ they cannot follow the principle that a local superior never errs. Mi, nor, accidental, and occasional mistakes should be overlooked; the local superior also must be given the forbearance due to a son, or daughter of Adam. However, habitual and serious dei:ects that are ob-structive of the spirituality, efficiency, and peace of the community should be studied, and the local superior is to be admonished of them, but with appropriate consideration. It has been remarked that we can often justifiably apply to a superior the principle of what was said of a conspicuous historical character: the scrutiny fastened on him detects many flaws but entitles him to be. judged free of any-thing of which he is not charged. ~ An important purpose of the visitation is that the higher supe-rior acquires a knowledge of the Capabilities and deficiencies of sub, jects. This should be of great assistance in making the annual ap-pointments for both the common and the individual good. 8) Extent ot: the t~isitation. The visitation extends to all houses, persons, places, and things. Both superiors general and provincials should strive to visit the missions at least once during their term of ,JOSEPH F. GALLEN office. The religious on .the missions are those making the greatest sacrifice and they should not be the most neglected. Both in law and in fact it is the presumption that perfect observance is more °difficult in small houses, and yet higher superiors are inclined to make only a cursory visit of a few hours iii~such houses. Canon 511 commands a higher superior to visit all bbuses subject to him. Therefore. a provincial does not visit a house immediately subject to the superior general unless he has been delegated to do so by the" latter. Canon 513, § 1 obliges a visitor ~to interview only the determined religious and the number in a house that he judges necessary for the purpose of the visitation, but¯ the particular law or custom of an institute will almost universally oblige a higher superior to interview all the reli-gious, This is also demanded by paternal government and the pur-pose of knowing the individual religious. As stated in n. 6, the visitation extends to all places in the house. A visitor is to be sensi, tire not o.nly to the irregularities of worldliness, luxury, softness, and sensuality but also to the adequate and et~icient furnishings of the living quarters of the religious. The cell of stark monastic sim-plicity may be suitable neither for sleep nor work. The visitation extends to all'things, for example, the furnishings of the house, the chapel, the sacristy, the proper care of the sick in the infirmary, the clothing, the heating, light,- food, to the books and documents of temporal administration, and to the book of minutes of the council. A fastidiousness, over-interest, and preoccupation with food is evidently alien to the state of perfection, but the food of religious ~hould be simple, substantial, well-cookedl appetizing, and sui~cient. Religious poverty implies privation, not indigestion. Highe{isuperiors should not omit a quite careful visitation of the li-brary and should investigate the number and quality of the' books purchased during the year. It would be interesting to learn what percentage of the budget, if any, is allotted to the purchage of books in some religioushouses. The visitation covers the whole external life of the community. The suitability of the horarium to the work and climate of the community is to be studied. Some institutes, especially of women, appear to follow the l~rinciple that the religious may die but the horarium must go on. In this era of enlightened and pru.dent adaptation the higher superior is to look carefu11~r'into the matter of customs. Some of these are meaningless, antiquated, originate from the self-interest of the few, or serve only to imprison the soul of the religious life in a labyrinth of formality and detail. It - danuar~l, 1953 CANONICAL VISITATION would be unwise to conclude that the need of a~laptation extends only to religious women, not to religious men and priests. 9) Opening of the visitatiqn. A visitation customarily begins with an exhortation to the community by the visitor. "Fhe topic of this exhortation should ordinarily be a virtue or principle distinctive of the religious life, a virtue especially necessary for the particular in-stitute, or a present problem of the religious life or of the institute. 1 O). Precept of the vow of obedience. Some institutes oblige the visito~ at the opening of the visitation to.imi~ose a precept in virtue of the ",;ow of obedience on the members of the community to reveal serious offenses. A few institutes extend the precept to anything else the religious may think necessary for "the good of the community. This precept does not extend to conduct that has been completely re-formed and obliges only with regard to matters that are external, certain in fact, and serious.6 11 ) Prelirninar!/interviews. It would be profitable for the visi-tor to have a preliminary interview on the state of the community alone with the superior, with the entire group of councillors, at which the superior is not present, and for their respective fields with such officials as the bursar, the master of novices, of postulants, of junior professed, and of tertians, with the dean, principal, adminis-trator, or director of the school, hospital, or institution. In these preliminary interviews the visitor should cover such topics as the gen-eral religious discipline of the community, fidelity to spiritual exer-cises, silence, cloister, observance of pove, rty, whether necessities are obtained from the community or externs, whether material necessities are adequately supplied by the community, whether the quan.tity and quality of material things are. observed according to the tradi-tions of the community, the possession of. money by individual reli-gious, excesses or imprudences in contacts with externs, the more common defects of religious discipline, the general level of spirituality and charity in the community, the success in general of the com-munity in its work, obstacles to this success, whether all the activities. of the community are profitable, activities added or dropped, whether the community is overworked, the material and financial state of the house, state of the community in relation to the superior and:~fficials, whether the council is properly consulted, the s~.ate of the external relations of the community with the local O~dinary, the parish clergy, diocesan director of schools, hospitals, or., other institutions, 6. Bastien. n. 302 ~" JOSEPH F. GALLEN ReView for Religioud 'with the chaplain~ the confessors, and with secular authorities and agencies. Inquiry is to be made about the adjustment of the junior professed to the active life, their formation, care, direction, instruc-tion, and education. In a novitiate, an even more diligent inquiry is to be made on these headings about the novices and postulants. 12) Interoiews with indiuidual religious. The following is a suggested outline of topics for the interviews with the individual' re-ligious. It.is b~; no means necessary that all of these be covered with each religious. The visitation will be more helpful if the visitor suc-ceeds in getting the religious to talk spontaneously and if he directly and indirectly suggests topics rather than adheres to a formal ques-tionnaire. The visitor should, make a notation of any important matter. A notation is of great efficacy in mollifying a, tempestuous soul. a) Health. Sufficient rest? recreation? food? any particular ail-ment? it~ nature? care? the opinion of the doctor.?. b) Work. Success? progress? difficulties? sufficient time for preparation? according to the system and traditions of the institute and directions of' tho~e in authority? overwork? direction of extra-curricular activities? relations .with head of school, hospital, institu-tion? the level of moral and Catholic life among the students? the influence of the community and the individual on these? c) Studies. Studies taken during the year or the summer? in what? how profitable and practica.l? what success? What work is the individual inclined to?. thinks he will do his best in? Is there an~" time to advance by private study and reading during the year? , d) Companions. Getting along with them? Making an effprt to do so with all? Any particular difficulty with anyone or any type? Neglecting some and associafing with only a few? Any coldness, antipathy, anger? Divisions, factions, cliques in 'the com-munity? Their cause? Any cause of 'lack of peace, harmony," happi-ness, charity in the community? " e) Religions life. Any difficulty in attendance at common spir-itual exercises or in performing those prescribed? Any dispensatio, ns necessary? Why?'Any obstacle to profi.t from religious exercises? Any .problem in the observance of poverty?~ Any difficulty in securing ma-terial necessities from the communi.ty-? How is obedience going? With the superior? With officials? Sufficient opportunity for confession? Supply of spiritual books adequate? Does work, community duties, domestic duties interfere with the interior life? Sufficient opportunity 28 danuar~l, 1953 CANONICAL VISITATION to deepen and intensify the dedication to the interior life? Days of recollection, tridua, retrea~s profitable? f) Superiors and officials. Any external obstaCle to a spirit of faith towards superiors and officials? Any misunderstanding? Any hesitancy or diffidence in approaching them? g) Anything else? Any suggestions? complaints? difficulties? permissions? Everything he needs spiritually and temporally? Any-thing, else he wishes:to say? 13) Some principles for the individual interviews. The visitor , must cultivate the dexterity of giving each subject sufficient but not excessive time. The ability to end an interview promptly bui gra-ciously is an enviable gift for the life of a superior. All of us have to beware of the natural tendency to find greater truth in the story first ¯ told or greater force in the argument first presented. Fairness, judg-ment, patience, and prudence are necessary for any visitor who ~ishes .to be objective and to learn the objective truth. The fact that the subject is a friend, the possession of an attractive personality or man-ner, or a facile and orderly presentation is not an infallible criterion of truth. Our enemies and the unattractive and inarticulate are not always wrong.' The passing of the poetry of life teaches' us that man, and woman also, .too often knows only what.he desires to know, too often sees only what his inclinations want, and all too frequently finds in the objective oi~der what exists only in the desires or rebellion of his own heart. The visitor is,to ascertain the individual state of each subject. He is not to conclude too readily that a problem is. exactly the same as something in his own past life or that it possesses no distinctive note. The constant pronominal subject of the visitor's thought'should be ¯ you, nbt I. We rarely solve another's problem by the history of our own lives. The subject.should be made to feel that there is a sincere interest in him, An,interruption, exclamation of surprise, or calm remonstrance should be used to restrain any flow of words that is outracing the mind. Reluctant and forced replies, especially with re- ~gard to oneself, are very frequently suspect,in their objectivity. This is the suitable and expected time for the higher superior to administer necessary correction to individuals. The visitor should first make certain of the facts, hear all sides patiently, and correct calmly. A higher superior who never corrects should not be too quick to thank God for the fervor of his institute. The omission of correction is sometimes prudence. Sometimes it is sloth, or lack of courage, or 29 JOSEPH F.,GALLEN Reo~eto for, Rehgtous, human respect. Many a higher superior has prolonged his sleepless ~ nights by exclaiming: "Oh, if the,generals or provincials had onIy~ done something about him (or her) years ago! Now it is impossible to do anything." But now also is the time for him to do for futu're higher, superiors what he would have had done for himself: 14) The field of conscience and of religious government.~ The" forum or fieId of conscience consists strictIy of actions that are in- 'terior, or external but not readily knowable by others, provided eil~her is the type of action that one V~uld not care to reveal to an-other except under a-pledge of secrecy. The field of conscience thus consists of all completely interior acts, such as .graces: lights: good desires, inclinations, "attractions, affections, and motives; interior progress; consolation; desolation; desire of progress; conquest of self; acts and habits of virtue; interior acts of prayer; imperfect and evil attractions, propensities, aversions, and motives; interior trials ¯ and dangers; imperfections, sins, and habits of sin; and lack of in-terior effort in prayer and spiritual duties. All external actions not readily knowable by others are also restricted to the forum of con~ science. Such interior matte'rs as the ,knowledgeof. how to pray, to make the examen of conscience, the difficulty or ease in usin'g par-ticular methods of prayer or examen, the attraction or repulsion for particular types of spirituality, people, or occupations are not strictly matters of conscience, since one would not hesitate to speak of these to a friend .without a pledge of secrecy? Unless the Institute is Clerical and has the privilege of imposing the obligation of a manifestation.of conscience~ the visitor is forbid-den to inquire about any matters that appertain strictly to the forum , of conscience. If such interrogations are made, thesubject riaa.y lic-itly reply by a mental reservation. However, a subject is not forbid-den to reveal any of these matters voiuntarily to a visitor, even if the latter is a brother, ntin, or sister. All religious ale even counselled by canon 530, §'2 to manifest their consciences to superiors. If the superior is not a priestl this counsel does not extend to sin, tempta-tion, and any other matter that demands the knowledge and trair~ing of a priest. The. subject is not forbidden to reveal these n~atters also ~ to a visitor or any superior who is a brother, nun, or sister. The field of religious government consists of all external and 7. Bastien, n. 212, 3; Beste, p. 350: Creusen-Ellis, n. 128; Jone, 444; Schaefer, n. 684; Verrneersch-Creusen, I, n. 650. 3O danuar~,1953 CANONICAL VISITATION readily kriowabl~'conduct of a religious. Superiors may legitimately question a subject about such personal conduct, and the subject is obliged to answer truthfully,s Religious may therefore be questioned by the visitor or any superior on such matters as rising on time, ex-ternal performance of spiritual duties, prompt attendance fit common 'exercises, observance of silence, external charity, neglect of study, external neglect of the duties of one's offic.e, whether one went out of the house without permission, or without a companion, mailed .l~t-ters without permission, etc. 15) Denunciation of the conduct of a companion. Denunciation is the technical term that signifies the revealing of the conduct of a comp.anion to a superior." Religious do not and should not revealthe petty and purely personal defects of companions. This alone is to be classified as talebearing. Religious may certainly reveal the faults and defects of others that are of no serious malice but are disturbing, interfere with. one's own work, peace, or happiness, or with those of some others, or of the.entire.community. A religious is not obliged to lose a great deal of sleep or suffer headaches because a companion nearby tyl6es most of.the night and whis~tles most of the day. ,The door slammers, radio addicts, midnight bathers, corridor and cubicu- .lar orators and vodalists, and the nocturnal religious who flower into the life of work and talk only at night fall under this principle. A visitor or any superior may inquire and subjects are obliged to ankwer truthfully about an offense in external r~hdily khowable con-duct of ~/companion: a) if the religious by the particular law of their institute have re-nounced the righ't to their reputations to the extent that any sin or defect may be immediately denounced to the superior.9 Such a re-nuncxation is practically never found in the law of lay institutes. .b) if there exists a rumor or founded suspicion of the commission of the offense by the particular religious.I° c) if a truthful answer is necessary to avoid the danger of serious harm to the institute, the province, the house, an innocent third 8. Berutti. 109: Beste, pp. 336: 350: Creusen-Ellis, nn. 89, 2: 128: Geser. q. 510: Jombart. I. n. 839. 3°: Van Acken. q. 164; Vromant. n. 402. 9. Cf. Summary of the Constitutions of the Society of Jesus. nn. 9-10: Com-mon Rules, n. 18. 10. Augustine. VIIi,: ,~19-520: Coronata I, n. 540: Fanfani. n. 72: Geser. q. 377; Pruemmer. q. 110: Sipos. 339. 31" ¯ JOSEPH F. GALLEN~. Revie~o fdr Religious party, or the.delinquent himself,n This reason alone permits the revelation of the matter of an entrusted secret of counsel or official secret. 12 A religious maq reveal the offense of a companion spontaneously or in answer to the question of the visitor, since in the religious life the offense of another may always,, practically speaking, be immedi-ately denounced fo a superior without the necessity of a .previous fra-ternal- correction.13 Conduct that has been completely corrected is not to be revealed, and it is evident that a ~ubject has no right to in-ves'tigate the conduct of his companions.Subjects should be prayer-fully attentive/to the case listed above under c). In practice such a matter should be~revealed.to the superior as soon as possible. Reli-gious are apt to excuse themselves from such a revelation lest even "their own conscience accuse them of talebe.aring. Later they may painfully and shamefully hear their consciences condemn them as the cause of a human disaster and of the suffering of many or all of their fellow-keligious. Whenever the name of a companion oCcurs in a conversation with a superior, conscience should immediately signal the red warning of truth. The facts and their source should first be studied, not in the imaginative and exciting glow of the evening, but in the cold and gray stillness of the early morning. Any denunciation to a superior should also be preceded by a searching examination of conscience on one's purity of motive. An impure motive stains the soul and als9 discolors fZct. Superiors should remember that the voice, the.face, and even the bristling hair of the criticism of others often bear a.striking resemblance to those of defense of self. 16) The visitor rna~t use u2hat he has learned in the visitation. The purpose of the visitation is not mere spiritual direction but gov-ernment and evideritly gives the visitor the right of using what he has learned in the Visitation. The visitor may therefore do such things as instruct, reprehend, correct, change the employment, office, or house of a religious, or place him under the vigilance of a local supe-rior because of what he has learned in the visitation. ~ In the use of information on an~" matter that is not commohly known~in tlie 11. Abbo-Hannan, I, 523; Augustine, III, 139-40; Bastien, n. 236; Beste, p. 336; Cocchi, VIII, n. 302 b) ; Creusen-Ellis, n. 89, 2; De Carlo, n. 95; Fanfahi, n. 72; Gerster, 264; Geser, q. 377; Pruernmer~ q. 110; Sipos, 339; Vroraant, n. 402 ¢). 12. Vromant0 n. 402. '~ 13. Coemans, n. 231; Fine, 1067; Regatillo, I, n. 658; Wernz-Vidal~ III, n. 149. 32 danuary, 1953 CANONICAL VISITATION community the visitor is to be careful to protect the reputation of the subject. He is forbidden to use, outside of the interview itself, any-thing learned in a voluntar~l manifestation of conscience without the express consent of the subject. 17) Revelation of things learnedin "the visitation. To reveal is . to tell others. In general, the visitor is forbidden to .reveal secret matters learned in the visitation. This obligation of secrecy clearly does not extend to matters that are commonly known in the. com-munity, but a prudent superior avoids indiscriminate conversation on anything that even appears to have been learned in virtue of his office. Some superiors could foster a greater intimacy with secrets. The visitor is to keep secret the identity of the one who gave the in-formation, but the importance of the matter to be corrected Can in some cases prevail over this obligation. Evidently the superior should not apologize for his duty of correction by even obscurely and guardedly hinting the name of' the one who gave the information, This would be to imitate the soldier who had enlisteti for the music of the bands but not for,the whine of the bullets. .Neither should the superior strive to make it appear that the sole reason for the c0r. rection is that the matter was reported to him. The mere mention of this fact often destroys any effcacy that the correction might have had. The visitor may reveal secret matters learned in the visitation, to a higher superior or to his councillors if this is jhdged necessary for a more permanent and efficacious correction. It is always forbidden to reveal anything learned ~in a manifestation of conscience without " the express consent of the subject.14 18) Closing of the visitation. The visitor frequently gives an exhortation also at the close,of the visitation on a topic of the same nature as that used to open the visitation. 19) Instructions and regulations. The visitation will be par-tially ineffective unless means are taken to further the good that the community is doing, to bring it to dffect the good that is being left undone, and to correct abuses. The visitor should write out instruc-tions on these points. It will usually be sufficient to reaffirm existifig obligations without enacting new regulations foi the community, New laws are to be regarded at mo~t asa se'asonal delicacy, not as our daily bread. The visitor should retain a copy. of the instructions. According to the custom of the institute, these instructions may be 14. Cf. Coemans, n. 501 b): Voltas. CpR. I. 85, nota 6; Wernz-Vidal, III, n. 210, nota 57. ~ 33 JOSEPH F. GALLEN Reoieto t:oc Religious the topic.of the closing talk of the visitor, be.given only to the supe-rior, who is always charged with their enforcement, or at least part of them may be read to the community, preferably .after the visitor has left. The initructions should begin with something sincerely complimentary, which can always, be found. The defects listed should be frequent and quite common violations of religious disci-pline. Other defects are to be taken care of by individual correction. The visitor is also to strive in the instructions to further positively the spiritual life and the work of the house or province and is to avoid concentration on the negative aspect of the correction of defects. 20 Pertinent canons on visitation. Canon 51 I. Higher superior~ of religious institutes who are obliged to visitation by the constitutions must visit personally or, if they are legitimately impeded, through a delegate, all the houses subject to them at the times determined in the constitutions. Canon 513, §' 1. The visitor has the right and the duty oi: ques-tioning the religious that be thinks should be questioned and of ob-taining information on matters that appertain to the visitation. All the religious are obliged to reply truthfully to the visitor, Superiors are forbidden to divert them'in any manner whatever from this obli-gation or otherwise to binder the purpose of the visitation. Canon 2413, § I. Superioresses who after the announcement of a visitation have transferred religibus to another" house without the consent of the visitor; likewise all religious, whether superioresses or sub jerrY, who personally or through others, directly~,or indirectly, have induced religious not to reply or to dissimulate in any way or not sincerely to expose the truth when questioned by the visitor, or who under any pretext whatever have molested, others because of an-swers given to the visitor shall be declared incapable by the visitor of holding any office that involves the government of other religious and, if superioresses, they shall be deprived of their otffce. § 2. The prescriptions of the preceding" paragraph are to be ap-plied also to religious institutes of men. Canons 513, § 1 and 24.13 apply to the canonical visitation also of the local Ordinary or his delegate. The hindering of the purpose of the visitation prohibited by canon 513, § 1 can be effected in many ways, for example, by concealing objects or falsifying records or documents. The great importance that the Church places on the canonical danuarq, 1953 CANONICAL VISITATION visitation is manifest in all these canonsbut especially in the penal canon, 2413. The permanent or temporary transfer forbidden to any superior is one whose purpqse is to separate a religious from the visitor and thus to prevent the revelatibn or interrogation of the reli-gious. This purpose is presumed if made after the announcement of the visitation and without the consent of the visitor. The interference with' iegitimate interrogation' prohibited to all religious includes that done pe.rsonally or through anyone else, whether directly, by inducing or commanding others expressly to conceal the truth, or indirectly, by praise, promises, special attention or .treatment intended for the same purpose but. without expressly mentioning this purpose. To be' punishable the interference must cause the religious actually to be silent, to dissimulate, or to be insin-cere when questioned by the visitor. . The forbidden molestation can be accomp!ished in various ways, for example, by transferring a religious, changing his employment, by punishment, public or private reprehension, or by other signs of displea.sure because of replies given to the visitor. Recourse against false replies is to be made to th~ visitor or a highei superior. The offices referred to in the penalty as involving the ,government of others are, for example, general, provincial, or local sup~erior, mas-ter of novices, of junior professed, of tertians, of postulants, probably_ also deans, principals, administrators, and directors of schools, hos-pitals, or other institutions. Such a punishment demands;a serious violation of the law. The natural tendency is to conclude that this penalty, enacted by canon law, is a canonical penally and that it can be inflicted only by one possessing jurisdiction in the external forum.Is However, Larraona gives the at least probable and safe opinion that this penalty is not strictly canonical and that it may be . inflicted also by" visitors who possess only dominative power in clerical non-exempt and lay institutes and thus also by visito)s who are brothers, nuns, or sisters with regard to those subject to them either habitually or by reason of the Visitation.16,x7 15. Cf. ~'anon-2220, § 1; Augustine, VIII, 521 and note 9. 16. :L~rraona, CpR, X, 369, note 4; 370 and notes.7, 8; Bowe, 64-65: Jombart, IV, n. 1323; Reilly, 169-170. Cf. the same opinion in the interpretation of canon 2411 in: Brys, II, n. 1091: Cloran, 313: Cocchi, VIII, n. 298 d). 17. The authors and documents cited are: Abbo-Hannan, The Sacred Canons; Augustine, A Comme.marg. on Canon Law; Bastien, Directoire Canonique; Berutti, De Religiosis; Beste, lntroductio in Codicem; Bowe," Religious Supe-rioresses; Brys, Juris Canonici Compendium; Cloran, Previews and Practical 35 BOOK NOTICES BOOK NOTICES In LENGTHENED SHADOWS, Sister Mary Ildephonse Holland, R.S.M., records in considerable detail the hundred-year history of the Sisters of Mercy of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. In a style that in all reverence might be called "chatty," the author, a former mother-superior, tells (1) of the founding of the'Sisters of Mercy by Mother McAuley, .(2) of the motherhouse, (3) of the twenty-eight other houses, (4) -of some senior Sisters. The book has an unusually large section of glossy prints and useful appendices,, includin~ one of chronology and lists of the living and the dead. In his foreword, the Archbishop of Dubuque, His Excellency Henry P. Rohlman, speaks of the fivefold purpose of the book. It should be of interest to the Sisters of Mercy, to Other Sisters, to pastors, to the laity, and a challenge to many young women. It certainly should. (New York: Bookman Associates~ 42 Broadway. Pp. 337. $4.50.) Some years ago Sister Mary Berenice Beck, O.S.F., R.N., ~ub-lished a little book entitled The Nurse: Handmaid of the Dfofne Ph~.tsician. The object of the book was to cbver all the various as-pects of the spiritual care of patients, as well as to offer the nurse some practical helps for her own spiritual life. That first edition was good. But the revised edition, entitled simply HANDMAID OF THE DIVINE PHYSICIAN, is s.uperior to it in every way. Content, arrange-ment, printing, and binding--all are excellent. (Milwaukee: The Bruce Publishing Company, 1952: Pp. xviii + 31~I.: $3.00.) ' Cases; Cocchi, Commentarium in Codicem ~luris Canonici: Coemans, Com-mentarium in Regulas Socletatis lesu; Coronata, [nstitutiones Juris Canonid; Creusen-Ellis, Religious Men and Women in the Code; De Carlo, dus osorum; Fanfani, De lure Reliqiosorum; Fine, lus Regulate Quo Regitur So-cletas lesu; Gerster a Zeil, lus Religioso~um; Geser. Canon Lau~ concerning ,Communities o[ Sisters; Jombart. Trait3 de Droit CanOnique: Jone, Com-mentarium in Codicem luris Canonici; Larraona, Commentarium Pro Religi-osis; Normae Secundum Quas S. Congr. Episcoporum et Regularium iOrocedere Solet in Approbandis Novis lnstitutis ,Votorum Simplicium. 28 iun. 1901: Piatus Montensis, Praelectiones duris Regularis. ed. 2; Pruemmer, dus Re,u-latium Speciale; Regatillo, Institutiones luris Canonici; Reilly. Visitation ~Religious; Schaefer, De Retigiosis; Sipos, Enchiridion luris Canoni6: Sum-marg of the Constitutions of the Societg of Jesus: Van Acken. A Handbook for Sisters; Vermeersch-Creusen, Epitome [uris Canonici: Voltas, Commen-tarium. Pro Religiosis; Vromant, De Personis; Wernz-Vidal, Ius Canonicum, HI, De Religiosis. 36 The ,reat:es!: Moment: in !:he Hospit:al Day Thomas Sullivan, C.S.V. SEVEN A.M. is the dawn of another busy day in the hospital. A hustling corps of hospital personnel stream into the hospital entrances, crowd the elevators, and soon swing into action¯. A burst of activity greets the quiet hallways. Ni~rses hurry to the chart desks~ to relieve their weary sisters; laboratory technicians fan out to. all parts of the hospital; nurses' aids begin their chore.s; tray girls and surgery personnel are on the move. At this time of greatest activity, there;is in our Catholic hospitals a momentary pause. The sound'of the silver bell is heard and all stop in reverent prayer. A patient or stranger who hears it for the first time will naturally ask, with the blind man of the Gosp~l who heard a crowd passing on the road to Jericho, "What might this be?" , He will be rightfully told, as the blind man was, "Jesus of Nazareth is passing by." He has but to view the respect and courtesy of every-one to know a great Visitor is passing by. Truly this is the greatest moment of the day. Each of our hospitals is greeted by the Eternal Word: "Today salvation has come to this house." More especially for the Catholic patient who receives is this the greatest moment. We all have need of the food of eternal life, but for the sick this need is acute. And' therefore the 'invitation of the Lord is more pressing. His sacred banquet is especially prepared for them, for He says, "Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in the poor, and the crippled, and the blind, and the lame.'" "Come to me,," 3esus says, "all you who labor and are bur-dened, and I will give you rest." Most frequently our patients need to be reminded of the Lo~d's invitation. They should desire to receive every day while at the hos-pital. To arouse this desire, it is not sufficient that they be conscious in an. abstract way of the Catholic ,doctrine of the Holy.Eucharist, that Christ is present, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. They must have the truth of faith alive and.real, and be convinced in a practicai way that here is the Food of the Soul, that this is the Bread come down from heaven. And this on the authority of the Great Physi-cian who prescribes: "He who eats .my flesh and drinks my blood 37 THOMAS SULLIVAN abides in me and I in him." In the first place the devoted nurses and chaplains should arouse in themselves a zeal for better disposed communicants among their patients. Let them meditate upon the marvelous effects of this Sacr,a-menl~ whose effect is in part conditioned by the dispositions of the recipient. Scripture and spiritual books provide ~ wealth of material., ~ The bread the angel fed the prophet .Elias prefigures the effects of the Eucharist. Most patients find themselves in a predicament simi-lar to tha~ of the p~ophet of the Old Testamen't, who was worn out with trials, tortured by his enemies, wandering weak and sick through the.wilderness. In desperation Elias prayed, "Lord, it is enough for me, take away my soul." He fell asleep under the shadow of a juniper tree, and an angel awoke him, s~ying, "Arise an'd eat.'" He ate and drank and fell asleep again. The angel of the.Lord came to him a second time, "Arise, eat, for thou bast yet a great way to go." Elias .arose and ate, and the Scripture states, "He walked in the stre.ngth of that food forty days and forty nights, unto the mount of God, Horeb." (Kings 19:1-8.) What a fitting parallel to the "living bread that has come down ¯ from heaven," and how like Elias is the person in sickness! In his misery and anxiety' be may be moved t'o exclaim with the prophet, "Lord, it is enough for me, take away my soul. The angel of the sick, the nurse., is at hand to arouse him, "Partake of the bread of life." In this bread he will have strength to continue his journey to the mount of God; to heaven, for-be will have "life everlasting~ and I will raise him upon 'the last day~" ViatIinc ugmiv iinn gd athneg efra iotfh fduela tthh,e tphree C.cheuprtc ohb tleiagcinhges t htheem i mtop roerctaenivcee. tohfe having Christ with us on the journEyfrom this earth. "This Sacra~ ment is called the'Viaticum by sacred writers, both because it is the spiritual food by which we are sustained in our pilgrimage ,through this life, and also because it paves our way to eternal glory and hap-piness" (Catechism of 'the Council of Trent, McHugh and Callan, p:215). Next ~ve are reminded of the health-giving properties of the Eu-charist, since it is called an eternal ~emedy of body and soul. ~If the woman suffering twelve years from h.emorrhage was restored to health merely by touching the tassel of our Lord's cloak, '~hat is the blessed effect upon the pbrson who takes Christ's body upon his tongue and receives Him into his heart? For "this is the Bread that .,38 , danuarg, 1953 COMMUNION IN HOSPITALS comes down from heaven, so that if anyone eat of it he will not die." In the prayer beforehis Communion the priest :s.ays, "By Thy mercy, may the partaking of Thy Body, O Lord'3estis Christ, be profitable to the safety and health both of soul and body." After Communion he prays, "What we have taken with our mouth, O Lord, may we re-ceive with a pure heart; and 6f a temporal gift may it become to us an everlasting healing." (Roman Missal.) And recall the prayer of the priest as he gives Communion to the faithful, "May the Body of Our Lord 3esus Christ preserve thy soullunto life everlasting." In the OffiCe of Corpus Christi we read in the second noc.turn., "of all, the Sacraments none is more health-giying, for by it sins are washed away, virtues are'increased, and the soul is fedwith an abundance of all spiritual gifts." In comparison with this health-giving food all the scientific medications and treatments available in the ~nodern hospital pale into significance. The so-called "miracle drugs" are at the best but temporary helps to better ,health. The Eucharist 'is the only real, permanent, miraculous medicine. Other medicines and treatments merely postpone the inevitable death; this keeps the soul for life ever-lasting. The great philosopher, St. Augustine, describes tile riches of this Gift of God, in these words: "God, all-wise though He be, knows nothing better; all-powerful though He be, can do nothing more excellent; infinitely rich though He be, has nothing more pre-ciou~ to give, than the Eucharist." Now, how may these truths enter into the thinking of the patient and dispose him to receive Holy Communion? This will haveto be achieved through the usual routine procedures. Neces'sarily there must be rputine, otherwiseduring the busy evening and the more busy, Morning there wo.uld be nothing done. But judgment and intelli-gence, faith and zeal, will put, Christian value in what otherwise is merely mechanical. For instance, the simple detail of drawing up the Communion list, can be done with a faith and enthusiasm that will make the patient realize the 'Lord's invitation. This can be done without catechizing or giving a discourse on the Sacrament. Tl~e initial step is most important because it involves the decision of the patient; it is the mofft delicate because people so easily miscon-strue our interest and concern ~ibout their religious'practice. The more ¯ objective and impers0n~il the nurseis in explaining the opportunity for Holy Communion the less chance there is to draw resentment from the sensitive who feel that ",it is none of your business." In 39 THOMAS SULLIVAN Reoiew for Religious giving expression to the Lord's invitation, the nurse, like St. Paul, must be all things ,to all people. This simple routine is the first step in what might be called the remote preparation of the patient for Holy Communion. The next might be notifying the chaplain, should the patient want to go to -confession. Especially in the case of a patient who is to have surgery~ the next morning is this very necessary. If the patient is not in a. private room, the nurse should arrange for con'fession in a place where there can be privacy; and, too, she should advise the ch~plai'n of the best time to come so as to avoid the rush of surgery proce-dures. The chaplain will want to take greater pai.ns with his patient~ penitents, and it will be his absolution in the Sacrament :of Penance that will make ready the "large upper room furnished." The Master says, "Make ready the guest chamber for.Me'." Do we need another reminder? Then, reflect on the care and pains of the hospital procedures before surgery.' The success of surgery depends much on the proper preparation of the patient and his physical and mental condition. For this it is necessary that the patient be in the hospital the night before, that all tests and precautions,be taken. There is a striking parallel in the reception of Holy Communion, counseling us to exercise some care to make ready the patient-com-municants. A contrary parallel follows. Surgery at the hands of even the most skilled surgeon is a great risk to the life of a person in poor physical condition. So likewise this most health-giving Food can mean eternal death to the one. not proper!y disposed. Remem-ber the severe words Of the Lord to the guests who had not on the ,wedding garment. Think; too, of what St. Paul says of those who eat and drink condemnation to themselves. Ther~ is an immediate preparation for Holy Communion that is also very important. At an early hour of the morning the nurse will awaken the patient; and, while she is tidying up the room, seeing that things are clean and in order, and a fresh sheet on the bed, she. has the opportunity to explain the reason, the coming of a great Visi-tor. All. must be clean and neat, especially the soul of the recipient. If 'the patient has a prayer-book and rosary, place them conveniently at his reach. Many hospita.ls hav.e a special card with prayers before-and after Communion. If the patient is unusually drowsy, as is the case so often with those who have taken sedatives, the night nurse should see that the patient is again aroused shortly before the priest comes. The priest 40 danuarv, 1953 will often hesitate, except in the~case of Viaticum, abofitgiving Holy Communion to a person who is too sleepy to keep awake. It goes without saying that the patient should not be ~listurbed for some ten minutes to allow for s, uitable thanksgiving. Tests and trays and shots can be delayed a few minutes; these moments after Holy Communion belong to God. The patient should be alone with His Gbd. , Language cannot express adequatery the great benefits of Hol.y Communion and the hospital cannot do too much to help the patient profit by each Communion. But even the most zealous efforts in establishing p~oper hospital procedure to assure worthy recipients of the Sacrament are not sufficient. Human efforts are necessary, but it "is God's grace that is more so. Our Blessed Lord in His famous dis-course on the Eucharist in St. ~ohn's Gospel reminds us, "No one can come to me unldss he is enabl.ed to do so ~by the Father." This is why we must invoke the angels and the saints t0 assist our weak human efforts to help patient-communicants be better dis- ~posed. St. John the Baptist could well be selected as the patron for worthy reception of Communion, since it was his vocation to "make ready the way of the Lord." Such is the mind of the Church in the Liturgy, as in the Confiteor we pray, "the Blessed Mary ever Virgin, the blessed John the Baptist, the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and all the saints, to pray to the Lord our God for me." The priest fore distributing Communion begs God to send His angel down from" heaven "to guard, cherisl~, protect, visit,, and defend all that,assemble in this dwelling." MEDICO.MORAL PROBLEMS Part IV of the series of booklets entitled "Medico-Moral Problems, by Gerald Kelly, S.J., contains the article, "The Fast Before Communion," formerly pub-lished in REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS,. March, 1'945. Other topics treated in the book-let concern the consent of the patient, the need of having and 'following consulta-tion, the relationship of doctor~ and department supervisors, induction "of labor, unnecessary surgery, the papal teaching on rhythm, and so forth. The booklet also contains a critical list of recommended readings for doctors. Taken together, the four b~oklets cover most of the practical ethical and reli-gious problems that confront doctors and hospital personnel. For the most part, the articles are commentaries on various sections of the Catholic hospital code, Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Hospitals. Price of the code, 25 cents: of 'each part o~ Medico-Moral Problems, 50 cents: of the complete set of five booklets, $2.00. Reductions on quantity orders. Order from: The Catholic Hospital As-sociation, !438 So. Grand Blvd., St. Louis 4, Mo. 41 Congress in Rome THE first International Congress of Mothers General was held in I. Rome September 11 to 13, 1952. The address" of the Holy Father to the delegates in a special audience on Sdptember 15 was printed inthe November number of the Reoiew (pp. 305-308). The present incomplete report on the congress itself is based on notes sent us by some of the delegates and on the newspaper accounts of the event from-L'Osseroatore Romano (September 11, 12, and, 14, 1952). Perhaps other delegates can supplement this material by sending communications with their own impressions. The congres.s of mothers general of pbntifical institutes was con-vened by the Sacred Congregation of Religious to discuss and co-ordinate more efficiently the religious and technical training of mem-bers of the apostolate. The papers prepared for the congress described the conditions and needs at the present time, gave helpful suggestions, and put forward the idea of establishing at Rome a pontifical, uni-versity for religious women and a commission of mothers:general to facilitate communication and liaison betw.een ecclesiastical superiors and individual institutes. The latter, it was said emphatically, is not to be a kind of "super-government.". The superiors general and tl~ose who represented and accompan-ied them came in Such large numbers that the, meetings v~ere trans-ferred from the assembly room of the Sacred Congregation of Reli-gious to that of the Gregorian L'lniv~rsity. after the first morning. An eye witness writes of the first afternoon session: "I counted the num-ber of Sisters in the Gregorian assembly room, since I didn't u~nder-stand the .Italian. My count was 800." Of these, 200 were dele-gates representing 800 religious institutes for women. Countries represented inelude~i Italy, Australia. India, France, Germany, Eng-land. Spain; Canada, and the 'United States. The opening address was given by the Most Rev. Arcadio Lar-raona, C.M.F., the secretary Of the Sacred Congregation of Religious. He pointed out that the purpose of the meeting was not "reform-- for which, thank God, there was no need but improveme'nt, by bringing up to d~te the ideals 6f the founders and foundresses with a willing, intelligent adaptation of means to the end. "We. r~ust do today what our founders would do if they were alive." The next speaker, the Rev. Riccardo Lombardi, S.J., stressed the grave~ resp6nsibility of superiors general to make the best use of their 42 CONGRESS IN ROME subjects' talents. To waste them or leave them unused is a fault just hs much as wasting one's own talents through carelessness or sloth. Natural capabilities and qualities of heart, and mind, which would have given a Sister considerable influence in the world had she not entered religion are to be cultivated by good training. The general subject introduced by Father Lombardi, the training for the apostolate, was next developed in four talks which indicated specific modifications for different parts of the world. The Rev. A. PlY. O.P. "the editor of La Vie Spirituelle. reportedon the training of religious in France. The representative for Spanish-speaking peo-ples. Father Leghisa. C.M.F., made a special plea for a better local distribution of various apostolic efforts. Mother Bernarda Peeren-boom. 0.S.U.' spoke for Germany, and Mother Magdalen Bellasis. O.S.U. for English-speaking countries. 'Mother Magdalen pointed out that some prevailing conditions in English-speaking countries .would call for greater emphasis on cer-tain aspects of training. Greater temporal prosperity (not i~ Eng-land since the war) underlines the need to stress poverty of spirit: "They must learn to want to be poor, to prefer to have less rather than more." The spirit of self government and the earlier emanci-pation of women reqmres more stress on-and explanation of the principles of religious obedience. The fact that Catholics are a mi-nority is a spur to.zeal, but it demands of faith. "There is a certain danger selves in a small minority, will suffer which, prevents energetic action. They that they have something splendid to solid instruction in the truths that.Catholics, feding them-from an inferiority compl~x must be given the conviction offer to the world and that their religion is something to be proud of." Monsignor Giovanni Battista Scapinelli,.under-secretary of the Shcred Congregation of Religious, gave a long, documented account of the co-operative efforts and .the movements toward federation in various countries and then proposed the formation of a central" and international co-ordination of forces. 'As an example of a co-operative effort, he proposed the foundation in each country of a hos-pital reserved for sickSisters. (It seems that in some countries Sis-ters- have to be cared for in pfiblic.hospitals.) The study of u'nit~- was continued in the three talks the fol-lowing morning. D6n Secur~do de Bernardis, S.D.B. ~poke of the need of gr.eater mutual knowledge and complementary co-operation among the different institutes. Then Mother M. Vianney, O.S.U., read a pap,r on the advantages of having a permanent Commission 43 CONGRESS IN ROME Review for Religious of Superiors General a[ Rome. The third speaker, Monsignor Luigi Pepe. the General Secretary of the Congress, spoke of the need of higher studies in religion. He urged provision for such studies in each country and proposed a financial plan for founding a faculty of religious studies at Rome for nuns and women' engaged in apostolic work.~ An auditor 'called the afternoon talk by the Rev. l~mile Bergh, S.3., "a soul-stirring conference." The heart of this talk was a,n examination of conscience for the past twenty-five years. This examination is given in the present number on page 14. He also gave some suggestions for the future. For instance, he mentioned that real days of recollection and retreat be organized that would provide a rest for the body too so that the soul might be ableto profit more from these exercises. After this, Father Larraona gave some practical directions of the Holy See for apostolic work in the field of education, re-education, care of the sick, and social wbrk. On Saturday morning he met with the superiors general while the other religious held group discussion in their own language groups. The congress was then closed with a brief address by His Eminence Cardinal Pizzardo, the secretary of the Sacred Congregation of Seminaries and Studies. , Observations . , The foregoing is a running, factual account of the congress as we. have been able to piece it together from our sources. To this we might. add a few of the more personal observations made by some Ameri-cans who attended the congress. ¯ Several have noted that there seemed to be very little realization in Italy of what we already have in this country. For example, we already have a splendid system of Catholic schools providing higher st.udies for women, not excluding religious. Also, many of our hos-pitals provide special care'for Sisters. As was noted in the Holy Father's address, previously published in the Review, he recommended modifications in the religious habit when this is necessary for hygiene or the better accomplishment of the work of the institute. We have not yet' obtained a copy of Father Larraona's address, but we have heard that when he mentioned this question of modifying the habit, he said that permission would readily be granted if the iequest was sponsored by amajority of the members of. an institute, and if the change could be made without ,]anuarg, 1953 CONGRESS IN ROME loss of harmony. The main thing, he said, is to keep peace in the family. (Not his exact words, but a good English equivalent.) And this reminds us bf another observation made by an Ameri-can delegate. "Looking at the habits that garb som~ of these dear, good religious,, we can't wonder that the Father of us all would like to see us clad in less grotesque and more unostentatious dress! Ours is surely the simplest here.'" Then she added: "'But it may be that everyone else, thinks tbe~same of hers!" (We have supplied the italics.) We c~onclude with another observation from an American mother ger~eral: "It was a grand and glorious assembly, and since we were there in obedience to the wish of our Holy Father, our being in Rome was grand and glorious too. However, the language q(~estion was a great drawback. We realized that it was international, but we felt that we lost too much since we, so many of us, had no knowl-edge of Italian. We were generally given a resum~ of the talk in the various languages, but that wasn't too satisfactory." SUMMARY OF THE CONGRESS ~ The superiors general, reunited in Rome, 'in response to the de-sires and directives of the Holy See, consider it opportune to sum-marize the work and conclusions Of the Congress as follows: The superiors general with their council will ~ollaborate in the holy movement of revitalizing the religious spirit, conforming to the needs of the Church and of the world in this historic moment. This revitalizing of the religious spirit must be basedon the spirit of our founders and fo~ndresses and of their outstanding disciples, while adapting itself to present needs and utilizing the immense resources at band in order to reach hearts and minds with the same broad vision and courage which the holy founders and foundresses would have bad today; Points for the Ascetical Life 1. Particular care must be taken to develop the personality of each religious in the exercise of Christian virtue and in the generous. dedication to religious virtue. 2. Maternal care must be taken of the health of the' religious; the work of each must be 'orderly and moderate; each religious must have time for her exercises of piety. 3. The schedules must always be reasonable and adapted to the various regions and apostolic ministries today confided to religious; 45 ¯ CONGRESS iN ROME Review for Religious 4. Care must be taken of the sick with promptness and exquisite charity. , Superiors must co-oper~lte in the organization of hospitals and s~anatoriums for religious. 5. In their individual houses, the superiors general will make it possible for al~ religious to lead a Christian life, by giving ample bp-portu. nity to receive the sacraments, and to carry out the duties im-posed on them by their consecration to God, by providing time for days of retreat, Spiritual exercises, and devotional practices common to the individual institute. Points regarding Government , I. It must. be remembered that we have need of superiors arid of teachers W.ho are well~balanced, nobl~-minded, refined holy souls or those strongly resolved to become so. They m!~st be ,well pre-pared for their sacred mission and, forgetful of themselves, give gen- ¯ erousI~ to their offide, striving to evaluate justly the natural and supernatural gifts of their subjects. 2. S.ubjects gifted With prudence and foresight should be chosen for superiors and for such offices as mistress ~)f novices and postu-lants. Young religious should not be excluded from higher office if they have the necessary natural and spiritual qualifications. Care must be taken not to ask more than canon law exacts nor should we be obstinate in the question of re-election. It is the mind of the Church that her laws and the cons'titutions of the institute be ob-served, both of-which prescribe the change of superiors so that no religious superior may be deprived pf the blessing of obedience. ,.' It is to be noted that when conditions are equal between a superior in office and a new carJdidate, preference should.be given to the new candidate. In :this way unpleasant situations'can be avoided and a greater num-ber of religious will be formed for governing. 3. In governing, in making the necessary decisions, such as changes, transfers, the equal distribution of work, one must "be guided by wisdom and charity. ' 4, In making ;¢isitations all the necessary time should be taken to examine well everything regarding the subjects, the houses, the registers, and the like. Each religious should be given an opportunity to speak freely and privately. The superiors and religious charged with various offices should enjoy a certain amount of' trust, while they sh0t~ld always remember that they are religi0u,s, subject to dis-cipline according to their respective offices. 46 d~nuarg, 1953 CONGRESS 'IN) ROME Special, Training 1. The creation of institutes of" higher education similar to those already existing for religiousorders of men. In these institutions the religious will study at least the essential' elements of Christian asceti-cism, of the religious li~e, of theology, of philosophy, of pedagogy, of psy~chology, of canon and civil lav~, and other subjects necessary for the direction of cofisecrated souls. 2. The introduction of a cours~ in orientation. This course may be given in the individual institute or tothe religious of various con-gregations grouped together. The. aim of this course is to acquaint religious with the needs and the trends .of the times in their various fields of activity. ~= 3, The diffusion among the religious of reviews of general and specific interests that may be of value'to them in their apostolate.~ 4. An intelligent, study of the documents of the Holy See. The Apostolate 1. It must 'be remembered that the apostolate is a grace, a voca-tion to which one must correspond, faithfully fulfilling the new ob-ligations which have been aisumed. The spiritual values must be main.tained,"tbe spirit of. prayer must be re-awakened, and the tell- ¯ gious'must be given 'the opportunity of making their spiritual re-treats. They must have the benefit of courses an'd have access to lit-erature that will enrich' their spiritual life. 2. It must b~ remembered that the apostolate is also a science and an art and that the Holy S~e ir~sists on high standards in literary, .technical, and profession.al training of religious, on the necessity of degrees required for the exercise of the various prbfessions; on the ne-cessity of aspiring to a greater degree of proficiency, never thinking that one's training is adequate for the present need. 3. It must be remembered what great profit can be derived from the formation of secretariates for apostolic works" both in the single provinces and in the entire congregation. Collaboration' It is sad to say. that religious frequently are indifferent to one an-other in their apostolic work. Perhaps this is more noticeable among superiors than among the members. There is a tendency to act and to think as though we were not perfect Christians bound fraternally to those who like ourselves are, striving for religious perfection. Milch harm is done to the Church and to souls by this indifference and 47 danudr~,1953 many worthy apostolic works are hindered in their development by this deplorable lack of union. By fraternal collaboration we can in-tensify our common actions for the greater glory of God and ,thus realize works which would be impossible to the individual congrega- ,tions. , The superiors general conforming to the designs of the Sacred Congregation and following the example of the superiors of the reli-gious orders of men, will constitute a committee to provide a com-mon center of information, of co-ordination, and of collaboration. General Aims of Committee 1. To gather in accordance with the Secretary of the Central Commission, already existing .at the Sacred Congregation of Reli-gious, that information which could be useful to the congregation ,regarding. various problems such as questions of the apostolate, ori-entation, defense, propaganda, administration, and authoritative reports. 2. To promote congresses, conferences, and courses of general and particular interests which are deemed necessary or useful and to organize them, after having informed the proper authorities. 3. To. reply to questions that may be asked by the Holy See. 4. To present to the Sacred Congregation of Religious any in-formation that might reflect the needs and the desires of the various~ congregations. 5. To serve as a secure and rapid means of t.ransmitting~com-munications of importance to the religious 'congregations. 6. To organize works of common interest and benefit or, at leasi~, to study the concrete projects that may be presented. Particular Aims of the Committee i. To create a pontifical institute of higher religious education. 2. To suggest the organization in various countries of courses for the ascetical and pedagogical formation, both for the religious in general and for specialized groups such as superiors, mistresses of novices, and prefects of study. ;. 3. To collect sVatistics regarding the distribution' of work, ,vari-ous apostolic needs, the fruits obtained, the difficulties encountered, ~and the like. 4. To formulate conclusions on common problems to be sub-mitted to the Sacred Congregation of Religious. 5, To promote the organization of schools for higher education by groups of congregations. ' 48 Shunfing Facilities Albert Muntsch, S.3. RAILROAD yards possess shunting facilities which enable the yard-master to move quickly a row of cars ~to a siding to make room for incoming or outgoing trains. The more complete such provisions, the less danger of collision at times of heavy traffic and travel. As we go thrdugh life we all need, at times, facilities, of escape-from spiritual or moral dangers that threaten ruin 1~o the immortal soul. We need them also to find relief from the worry, depression, and disappointments that beset every traveler through the pilgrimage of life to the eternal homeland. We may regard such avenues of escape as spiritual shunting facilities. Fortunately we have them in abun-dance. Like the "rare day in ,lune" they are free to all. And what is more, these "shunting facilities" have a beneficent effect. They will surely work if we do not place an obstacle in the way. Some of the great heroes whom we honor in the calendar of (he saints tell us that a reverential glance at the crucifix was to them a source of courage and of spiritual strength in the hour of trial.~ It is easy, to imitate them. We carr~y,the cross on our rosary. How easy ¯ ¯ to look devoutly and with confidence at the sweet symbol of salva-tion! Surely there is always hope and healing for the troubled soul in the cross of Christ. Pragers consisting of three or four words--prayers which may be uttered on the crowded street, as well as in the quiet of the home, are an easy way to gain new strength and much-needed hope. Let us try to cultivate this practice of utteri,ng such ejaculatory prayers. "My 3esus, mercy," is a familiar example. We shall become the richer s~iritually for forming this excellent habit. It can provide a good avenue of escape from many of the little'worries, that eat into the~ heart and make the soul unfit for larger efforts in God's Kingdom. A brief visit to the chapel--what a wonderful means for fighting . off weariness in well-doing and for laying up new resources against the,.hour of temptation! We are in God's house.Perhaps we see other souls praying for the same graces we need in the spiritual journey. It is always edifying to enter St. Peter's Church, near the D~ar- 49 ALBERT MUNTSCH born,Station in Chicago, at any hour of the day, and become one of the man,y dev6ut clients of the Sacred' Heart. There ~ill be scoies of men and women frbm all walks of life who have turned aside from the busy street and the roar of commerce to find hea!ing for the soul. Rich and pgor, young.and old, saint and ~inner, native son and im-migrant all on the same high quest. They needed a spiritual siding so they turned into God's holy house~to avoid some snare or spir-itual danger or to lay up strength for the day's, ceaseless conflict. With a song of g.ladness from the heart we may take up anew life's daily burden. We are not like those who are without hope. We see a light ever-shining. There are many beacoi~ lights even in the darkest hour. For a loving Providence has providedus weary pil-grims, with many a station at which to stop for second wind while press!ng forward to the goal. Now such spiritual shunting facilities are of immense value to, and even of great necessity for r~li~ious. Many are engaged 'in the splendid work o~ Catholic hospitals, following in the footsteps of Christ, the Divine Physician. But both patients and nurses may. at times become wearied and their hearts may become oppressed with bitterness. They need a spiritual._siding. Religious persons should often dwell on one of the g[eatest prob-lems the problem 9f human suffering. It is contemplation on the su.fferings, of Christ which will enable them to find thoughts of hope and inspiration for their suffering patients who are about to give up the struggle, abandon ~hope, and listen to the tempter'of souls. An eminent physician refers to the immense value of the "simple habit of prayer" for those who are nervously depressed. This simple habit of prayer and an act of faith in the divine value of suffering patiently borne may provide spiritual shunting facilities.for both the nurse and heb patient. "The drudgery of the classroom" has become, almost a proverbial expression. When the duties of teaching seem hard, it would'be well for teachers to realize that in ten or twenty years the boys or girls, who~ are now often a sourde of trouble, will be young men and women. They will be on the front line and may be exposed to seri-ous temptations. Under the tutelage of the Catholic teacher, they fnust prepare themselves now for victory in that critical hour. T~his vision of the future will help provide shunting facilities for the tem-porary snarl of discouragement. The vision should prove an inspi-ration to persevere .faithfully in the Christian apostolate of teaching. 50 ( uestdons an.cl Answers When H01y Saturday services are held in a convent chapel on Satur-day evening, terminating with the Mi.dnlght Mass, what is the correct order for the Divine Office on Holy Saturday, and what versicles, re-sponses, and prayers should be used for' grace at the noon and evening meal? Should the Alleluia be omitted at grace when the Holy Saturday services take place in the-evenlng? The answers concerning'the Office are contained in a Decree of the Sacred Congregation of Rites, dated January 11, 1952 (Acta Apos-toticae Sedis, January 25., i§52, pp. 50-63), giving_ directions for the c~lebration of the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday evening with the Easter Mass followiiag about midnight. Regarding the grace at ~able, which is not covered by the Decree, confer below. The pre-scriptions for the Divine Office are as follows: MATINS and LAUDS are not anticipated-.on Friday ev,ening, but are said Saturday.morning at.a convenient hour. At the end of Lauds the antiphon Christus factus est is ~epeated with a Pat'-'r Nos-ter, but the psalm Miserere is 6mitted. and the following prayer is substituted for the Respice quaesumus: Concede, quaesumus, Omnipotens Deus: ut qui Fitii tui resurrec-tionem devota expectatione praeuenirnus; ejusdem resurrectionis glo-riam- consequamur. The conclusion Per eundem Dorninum is said silently. SMALL HOURS are ~aid as on Holy Thursday, en~ling with the antiphon Cbristus factus est and a Pater Noster. The psalm Miserere is omitted, but the new prayer Concede is said as indicated above at Lauds. VESPERS are 'said at a.convenient h6ur in /he afternoon as on Holy Thursday, with the following changes: Antiphon 1: Hodie agtictus sum valde, sed cras solvam uincula Antiphon for the Magnificat: Principes sacerdotum et pharisaei munierunt sepulcrum, signantes lapidem, cure custodibus. The antiphon for the Magnificat is repeated and the Christus factus est, Pater Noster, and Miserere are omitted. The prayer noted above for Lauds is said: This concludes ~espers. COMPLINE is omitted on Holy Saturday evening. 51 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Revietv ?or Religious Until the Sacred Congregation of Rites issues an official text for grace at meals,, the f,ollowing, which keeps the parallel between the Office'and the meal prayers to be found in t'he Breviary at present, is suggested as a form which may be used on Holy Saturday: AT THE NOON MEAL: Cbristus factus est pro nobis obediens usque ad mortem, mortem autem crucis and a Pater Noster. Then recite the new prayer Concede, given above at the end of Lauds, ter-mmat! ng it with Per eundem Dominum "to be said silently. AT THE EVENING MEAL: V. Principes sacerdotum et pharisaei munierunt sepulchrum. R. Signantes lapidem, cure cus-todibus. Then a Pater Noster and the prayer Concede as given abo~e with its silent ending. The Alleluia will not occur in the Office or grace at table on Holy Saturday because it has not yet been su.ng officially. This will occur during the Easter Vigil. ~2m Throughout ~he year we chant the Little Office of Our Blessed Lady in choir. During the last three days of Holy Week we replace this¯ by the Office of the Roman Breviary. However, at Matins on these days we spy only the first nocturn. Is this a proper'and permissible omission? In his Hol~l Week in L. arge and Sm~ all Churches, Father Law-rence J. O'Connell states the following: "Tenebrae.services may be .held not~0nly in cathedral, collegiate, conventual, and parochial churches,.but also i,n chhpels of convents and other institutions where the Blessed Sacrament is habitually reserved . If all three nocturns of Matins cannot be sung, it is sufficient to sing the first nocturn and the Benedictus.'" (See also W'apelhorst, n. 360, 6!). The custom of replacing the Little Office of Our Lady with the Divine Office during the Sacred Triduum seems reasonable and jus-tifiable. In a congent where the Holy Week services are not held, when is it proper to uhcover the crucifix on Good Friday? There does not seem to be any special legislation on the .subject. Hence it is suggested that the crucifix be uncovered after the services held in the parish church in whose territory it is situated. Our constitutions state that if anythlncj is left over it is to be sent to the provincial house. Sometimes we have to send our salaries before we 52 Januarg, 1953 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS pay our food and book bills. We have to make so many excuses when the collector comes. This cjives us a bad local reputation, and our credit is not good. Hence firms expect us to pay cash. Is it proper to

Issue 12.4 of the Review for Religious, 1953. ; The Spiril: ot: SI:, Clare and I-ler Order Sister M. Immaculata, P.C: CEVEN centuries'ago, on August 11, 1253, the shadows of death ~ were lengthening around a group of sorrowing nuns whose ~ foundress and Mother lay dying. In ecstatic joy, she clasped to her heart a roll of parchment sealed with the Fisherman's seal. Clare Sceffi, a. noble lady of Assisi, had fled from her castle home when she was eighteen to follow Francis Bernardone. Francis had dreamed of adventure for. Christ, and no one had caught~ the flame of love that burned in his heart more ardently than Clare. Fran~is's course had now been run a full quarter of a century, and he was already b.eing venerated as the great saint whose popularity would grow even to our own day. pope Innocent IV had ascended the throne of Peter but the year before. His keen vision scanned the lower!rig storm clouds over a Europe ever beset by the Moslem threat. Could he but make the rulers of the Christian countries bestir themselves out of their com-fortable and only too often lustful letha/gy, to heed his call "God wills it !" With the burdens of ~his exalted, office heavy upon him, he, the Vicar of Christ thought of one little virgin, hidden behind cloister walls in Assisi. He knew Clare, heard she was dying; and he remem-bered the intrepid courage with which she had pleaded with him and some of his predecessors for approval Of her Rule, and of the Seraphic poverty to which she and her Daughters aspired. Innocent, like several Pontiffs before him, had,hesitated to approve a rule of life requiring such poverty as Saint Francis had bequea.thed to Saint Clare and her Daughters. Men, they thought, might oblige themselves to observe it,-but what of cloistered nuns? What would become of a community thus deprived of all revenue and financial security? Innocent was thinking of Clare, thinking of how she lay dying, her one wish and desire unfulfilled. He did not send her a message of comfort and his blessing. Under the inspiration, no doubt of~ the Holy Spirit, he grasped his pen, signed the Bull of approval con-taining her Rule; and then, with his retinue, turned his face toward Assisi. There at San Damiano he entered tl~e lowly cell of Clare and placed in her hands the approval for which she had prayed and 169 SISTER M. IMMACULATA Re~evo :or Religious ~)leaded and suffered for over f.orty years. We can imagine" the astonishment of Clare and her Sisters when the Holy Father himself stood at the convent portals. How she must have pre,ssed that docu-ment to her heart and sung her last hymn of love to Christ her Spouse. Clare had imbibed th.e spirit of Francis at its source, .cher-ishing it firmly and wholly, and bequeathing it to her Daughters as they knelt at her death bed. And they have cherished, loved, and guarded it. They have preserved it unchanged since 1253. Through 700 years the Rule of Saint Clar~ has often been buffeted by storms, and has been wounded at times by the infidelity of her children, but it has always emerged in its first freshness and .strength. It still lives in 1953, and today there.are 19 houses of Poor Clares in the United Stat~s. Our modern age has not been able to undermine the observance of the Rule nor destroy its spirit. The order has grown silently, spreading its branches in neaily every country of the world. No nationality but has found the Rule and its spirit congenial, so that the daughters of Saint Clare scattered throughout the countries of the world have always been able to adapt themselves to her Rule, which .has proved .independent of time or place. Today our American girls still observe the Rule Innocent IV placed in the hands 0f the dying foundress. " What is the spirit, contained in the Rule of Saint Clare? As. in ¯ her own time, her Daughters live a contemplative life in strict en-closure. The spirit, one of poverty, love of prayer leading to closest union with God, is joyous, and their personal sanctification is as much for the efficacious gaining of gra~e for"soul~ as for the strength-ening of the bond of love in the order. It is a life of joyful giving, closing the doors to what the world calls pleasure by the vow of en-closure, thus finding the treasure which is worth more than all pos-sessions. Though it embraces the deprivation of "the things the world de-sires and cherishes, this seclusion with its penance does not entail a sad, bleak; and joyless existence. It is not the thing~ that are barred from the cloister which bring peace and joy to the soul, but those that are found within, of which the world knows nothing. There is song in the heart of the cloistered nun. for she is not burdened with the superfluous gadgets and noises which fill so many hours of our com-plex modern life. Saint Francis has been coi~sidered a model of penance and self-abnegation, but was ever saint more joyous? Hadever a saint a heart 170 ,July, 1953 SPIRIT OF ST. CLARE more full of music? His seemed to be an overflowing fountain of happiness, and he communicated it to those around him. In this, as in all else, Saint Clare was his faithful follower. Penance for her was not practiced for penance's sake. It was an outlet for the love burning in her heart ,and reaching out for more adequate fuel to feed its flame. This joyous spirit still pervades the cloisters where the Daughters of Saint Clare follow in her footsteps and observe her Rule. Their hearts are the cups that still hold the happiness of which the world has now so little, because their lives are still spent in genuine love and wholehearted giving. The worlff today is filled with sorrow and suffering,, and count: less hearts.are bearing a burden they could well consider supreme penance, did they but think of accepting all in a spirit of penance. The heart's most loving, if inarticulate, acceptance of penance is the willing b~aring of the unwelcome burdens so often placed on it by God. To be silent and lovingly resigned is always, to practice pen-ance in a very perfect form. The Daughters of Saint Clare vowing a Rule which imposes manypenances are but reaching out for greater love, ~vhich is warded With greater joy in God's service. Penance is not ugly, harsh, and fearsome. The bell which call~ one to ri~e from welcome sleep to seek the light of the sanctuary in the dead of night may sound un-welcome to a tired body: but is theie anything rfiore beautifuf_than the religious wending their silent 'way to the choir to make their first act of adoration before their Lord in the taberf.acle when the day has just begun? Standing in their stalls, they offer the praise of virgins before the face of~God, a prayer with the Son of God, ",bhile the world sleeps or sins. Does anyone know the joy in the hearts of those who give Him this homage? So it is with all the penances.prac7 ticed by the Daughters 6f Saint Clare. Penance for penance's sake is repugnant, meaningless, and very often food- for pride and phari-saism, so entirely alien to the spirit of Saint Clare. Penance for "love's sake is sweet. If there are still hearts in the world today which know unalloyed joy, they are undoubtedly those whose lives are being poured out in the most unselfish and wholehearted giving. Their joy is most full because their lives are most full of giving. The transition from the life of our modern girl to a postu!a~nt the cloister is not so drastic as some would suppose. Young, eager, lighthearted, with a soul attuned to God's grace, she assumes by slow degrees the duties and customs to which she adapts herself. She learns 171 SISTER M. IMMACULATA Review for Religious to love the hours of prayer, the Divine Office, the silence and regu-larity, The joyous acceptance of the sacrifices imposed by the Rule creatds a deep happiness and peace, which is found" especially in the hours of prayer. Prayer is not a ready-made gift in anyone. It en-tails mortification, is often itself mortification, but a mortification that decreases as the spirit of prayer and union with God increases There are no secrets of rapid progress over the rough path that leads to union with God, except the secret of persistent self-abnegation and striving for that wlsich obliterates self, and builds up in us the Christlikeness which alone makes us one with Him. But God does not lure us into the wilderness of. the contemplative life to forsake us and l'eave us to our own helplessness. True, we seem to take a leap in the dark When we embrace the contemplative life, but our Lover is not a human being whom we fear to trust. Like Clare who left her castle home in the dead of night, her Daughters follow where their Divine Spouse leads, and the path. is ever to union with God and the embrace of the Holy Spirit. While the enclosed life of contemplation should not be glamor-ized, neither should it be made a fearful existence df joyless sacrifice and penance. Too often is either mistake made. Those who look for a thrill rush to embrace what they do not understand, looking for something occult, dxpecting tangible thrills of gra.ce or ecstatic prayer before they have hid anything like the foundations of the spiritual life. On the other hand, ferszent though timid souls are often over-come by fear of what may be expected of them once they step behind the cloister walls. Neither is the correct attitude. Those to whom God gives a vocation to the contemplative life, have, nearly always, a natural yearning for God. They want Him, are looking for means of. union with~Him, "have a certain joy in prayer, and, with the light affd guidance of the Holy" Spirit, find pehce of soul in the difficult stretchds of the way as well as happiness in His tornforts. Union with God is a growing state, and though it often advances in dark-ness there are times when it comes into the light, and a light that does not fade entirely even when the way is again through dryness. There is too much emphasis put on the trials, sufferings, and dark-ness of the interior life and not enough on the joy in God and peace Of soul found therein. It has been said that Saint Clare, had she lived in our day, would have founded a missionary order. No Daughter of hers would ever consent to this opinion. Clare knew without a doubt to what she 172 dulg, 1953 SPIRIT OF ST. CLARE was called and she never wavered. She did not simply follow a pat-tern of her time. Indeed, we know that a number of:Benedictine houses, especially the large one at Florence, took the Rule of Saint Clare. It was Agnes, her sister, who was sent there to be the abbess under the new Rule. Francis knew Clare was a contemplative, as he was himself, and the hearts of both were so much the missionary's that no field of labor would ever satisfy' their zeal. Nothing less than the entire world would be Clare's mission field, as it was that of Francis and his Order. Italy and Assisi were no closer to her than the farthest-flung mission. No contempla.tive is one indeed if she has not' the heart of a missionary. Francis's was the call to go out and preach,. Clare's the outstretched arms of a Moses on the mount of contemplation. Clare would give to Christ, her Spouse, not only herself, but all the world. She'knew the fields were white for the harvest and she would obey the words of Christ and pray that the Master send laborers into it. He did not bid her go out and gather it in, bu~ strengthen the arms of the workers. She knew the limita-tions of her own weakness, but prayer and sacrifice, united with the prayer of Christ in the Divine Office, in in~erior love and union, were and are the all-powerful weapons which can reach the opposite ends of the earth at one and the same time. It was the spirit of Clare. as it was the spirit of Francis, to be daring enough to wish to support the Church, on her own weak shoulders, knowing that the Hands and Heart of her Divine Spouse were supporting her. The Spirit of Saint Clare, the foundress of the "Poor Clares, is still living and burning brightly after seven centuries. It calls to the heart cJf the modern girl of our cities as it did t6 those of the middle ages. The life she and Francis instituted for her Daughters is not outmoded in the 20th century, but instead is as living, warm, and joyous in the hearts of the novices of ~oday as in the days of Saint Clare in the little monastery of San Dami~no in 1253. ST. CLARE PLAY BY A POOR CLARE Candle in Umbria is the story of Saint Clare of /~ssisi told in a verse play by a Poor Clare Nun. The play of four acts, eight scenes is suitable for production by college :students or by high schools with special direction. The play was written to honor the foundress of the Poor Clares on the seventh centenary (1953) of her death. The authi~r is a regular contributor to Spirit magazine. ~$1.00 per copy, including the music for the "Canticle of the Sun" which is embodied in the play. Those interested in obtaining a copy of this productior~ should write to: Poor Clare Monastery, Route 1, Box 285 C, Roswell, New Mexico. 173 News and Views Yocational Institute at Fordl~am The Third Annual Institute on Religious and Sacerdotal Voca-tions will be held by. the School of Education, Fordham University, Wednesday, July 29, and Thursday, July 30, on the Fordham. campus. Ways of encouraging, fostering, and guiding vocations~.to the diocesan priesthood an/d to the religious life will be~ discussed by outstanding experts. For further information write to Rev. John F. Gilson,.S.J.,' Fordham Univ. Sch6ol of Education, 302 Broad-way, New York 7, N.Y. ,~ Institute of Spirituality At the National Congress of Religious, held last summer at the .University of Notre Dame, it ,was suggested that the University offer summer school courses in spiritual theology and an institute of spir-ituality each year for the Sisterhoods. This suggestion was favorably received by the representati(,es of the Sacred Congrdgation of Reli-gious and by th.e religious superiors who attended the congress. To carry the suggestion into effe~0 the Notre Dame Department of Religion is inaugurating this summer a program of courses in spir-itual- theology as part of its graduate work in view of a Master's De-gree in Religion. Moreover, since many superiors and mistresses of novices are unable to be present for the summer school, courses, the University is offering a distinct. Institute of Spirituality for them. This is also sponsored by the Department of Religion. The Institute is not a part of the academic program and offers no credits towards a degree. All the lectures and discussions are specially arranged for Sisters superior and novice mistresses. A~ the formal opening of the Institute, on the evening of July 31, His Excellency,. the Most Reverend John F. O'Hara, C.S.C., D.D., will deliver the address. From August I to 7, there will be three lectures each morning. Topics and speakers for these series of lectures are: "'The Role of the Sister Superior and Novice Mistress," by Rev. Paul Philippe, O.P.; "The Theology of the Religious Life and the Vows," by Rev. Joseph Buckley, S.M.; and "Ascetical and Mystical Theology," by Rev. Charles Corcoran, C.S.C. Each after~ noon, August 1-6, the three lecturers will cbnduct workshops on their subject-matter. On four evenings, August I-4, there will be 174 Julg, 1953 NEws AND VIEWS special lectures, running simultaneously, as follows: "The Liturgy and the R~ligious Life," by Rt. Rev. Martin Hellriegel; "Canon Law for Religious," by Rev. Romaeus O'Brien, O.Carm.; and "Psycho-physiology and Religious Sisterhoods," by Rev. Gerald Kelly, S.J. The Institute will close on the morning of August 7 with an address by Very Rev. Theodore M. He.sbargh, C:S.C., President of the Uni-versity of Notre Dame. Morol Theology ond Love There was a day when the science of Christian moralit~r included everything that is now partitioned into moral theology, ascetical the-ology, and mystical theology: in othei~'words, it included the entire Christian life, in all its degreesof perfection. Bdt the very growth of the su,bject-matter made some kin~i of division necessary, at least for teaching purposes. This division more or less limited moral the-ology to the sphere of what is obli~Tator(/: tb the study of laws, of the exact limits of the obligations imposed by the laws, to the.conditions which might constitute exemptions from these laws. and so foith. There is one great advantage of this ~partiti0n: it makes a dear distinction between what is obli~Tator~l and what is superero~lator~t; and this distinction is ext~rbmely important for the preservation of peace of soul. Nevertheless, from the point of view of moral the-ology, there is also a decided disadvantage: the science is made to ap-. pear too negative. Perhaps every student and professor of moral the-ology has been conscious of this disadgantage, and perhaps many of them h:~ve tried to find some way of introducing a more.positive and inspirational dement into moral theology without, of course, scaring its basic clarity. Father G. Gilleman, S.J., a Belgian Jesuit who teaches theology in India, suggests that moral theology can gain its necessary inspira-tional note by emphasizing charity as the very soul of the Christian life--which it truly is, whether in the sphere of obligation or' of supererogation. Those who ire'intdr~sted in improving.the method of moral theology should nbt fail to read Father Gilleman's book. The title is, Le primat de la charitd en thdologlie morale. It is pob-lished by E. Nauwelaerts, Louvain, Belgium. The price is 225 Bel-gian fr'ancs. $t. Joseph Research Center A St. Joseph" Research and Documentation Center has been estab-lished at St. Joseph's Oratory, Montreal 26, Quebec. The constitu- 7.5 NEWS AND VIEWS tions of this organization have the approval of His Eminence, Paul Cardinal Lel~er, Archbishop of Montreal. The purpose of the so-ciety is to encourage a more profound study of the position of St. 2o-seph, and eventually to subsidize works published on the saint. It will sponsor research in fields such as church history, liturgy, and the arts, as well asin theology. Membership is open to' all interested in-dividuals or groups. Inquiries can be sent directly to St. Joseph's Oratory in Montreal or to Rev. F. L. Filas, S.J., at Loyola Univer-sity, Chicago 26, Illinois. Scholarships at Catholic University" The Catholic University of America has made provision for. 160 half-tuition scholarships for post graduate studies for the next aca-demic year. Open to lay men and women, priests, Brothers, and Sisters, the grants/ worth $300 towards 'tuition, will be awarded on the basis of scholastic excellence and financial need of the applicant who is entering on post graduate work. Grants are available in all studies except philosophy, engineering, and architecture. Appli-cants should write to the Registrar, Department G, Catholic Univer- ¯ sity of America, Washington, D.C., for additional details on the program. Office of the Passion in English The Confraternity of the Passion, in answer to many requests, has had The Little Ofl$ce of the Passion of Our Lord desus Christ translated into English and made available in Small booklet form. The booklet may be obtained for 25 cents from the Confraternity of the Passion, Sacred Heart Retreat, 1924 Newburg Road', Louisville, Kentucky', or from any Passionist Monastery. ~ Layos Catholic Records Layos Records is a Hollywood recording company devoted ex-clusively to the production of Catholic records. The first record, " "Act of Contrition," is already in circulation. Original music was composed by Peter; Jona Korn, and the piece is performed by the Roger Wagner Chorale. The company plans to sell the recordings through advertisements in the Catholic press. A five-year schedule calls for the production of a new Catholic record, at six-week inter-vals. The firm is being advised in its musical program by Father John Cremins, head of the music depastment of the Los Angele~s Archdiocese. The record company is anxious to ha~,e suggestions from Catholic music and audio-visual departments regarding the type of material to be recorded. 176 On !:he Particular i:::xamen [EDITORS' NOTE: The first two articles on the particulmr examen .arrive~l almost simultaneously. The fact that the first is from an American Brother studying in Switzerland and the second from a Belgian missionary in India would seem" to indicate, universal interest in this practice of asceticism. The third contribution to this "sytfiposium"'is .from a member of the Jesuit Mission Band of the New Yot;k province. Communications from Our readers that may bring some more hdpful ideas to the practice of the particular examen are: welcome.] William T. Anderson, S.M. UMAN nature is prone tO falling into a rut. Those who lead very ordered lives often become slaves to routine. Religious sometimes feel the deadening effe~ct of routine and.habit: in fact, if we ark not car~eful, we find ourselves going to chapel without any preparation and without ~any aim. Day after day slips by and, before we know it, a year is gone. When .we 'take inventory at the annual-retreat, the shelves of our spiritual warehouse look" bare indeed. Perhaps we ought once in a while to ask ourselves a few embar-rassing questions on our religious duties. The reflections listed below are the result of just such a scrubbing of the~ soul. What effect has particular examen had on me? What is my attitude towards this ex-ercise? What importance has this exercise ir~ the spiritual life? Is there any direct ratio between successful zeal and progress in particu-lar examen? After .asking yourself these questions, try to answer them honestly. Then read on and see whetheroyou agree with the ideas given below. 1. A written record is a "'must" for examen. A record book for examen was insisted on in the novitiate. Over and over we heard how necessary this was. Yetsome 'religious perhapscast their examen book out the window of the car carrying them from the novitiate to the train station. Some of us used it for a while, but then discarded it. And that ~ras the beginning of the end. Perhaps most religious who do not make examen with a record as a help do not make exa-men. I~ this a rash statement? Do .you make examen faithfully without a iecord? Does your personal experience agree with this observation ? 177 "~,VILLIAM T, ./~NDERSON Re~iea2 for Religious 2. The subject for~ examen must be specific. If the subject is not limited to definite occasions during the day, or to specific'times scat-tered oxier the usual schedule, after a time the examen, period becomes' " 6nd during which 6u~ Stomach continually reminds us "that a meal is not,far off, or it is a p~eriod of planning unconsciously our work for the rest of the day or the morrow. Vagueness here is the deadly ene-my of progress. 3. Our apostolic influence is in direct ratio to our efforts at par-ticular examen. We learned in the scholasticate that while knowl-edge is very necessary for a teacher, the more important ingredient for a successful teacher and religious educator was the hbility to get along with people and to attract souls. Anyone who has taught fora few years will attest to the authenticity of this statement. Any one will also agree that teaching boys, especially adolescent b.oys,.can be a very nerve-racking job. Nervous tension may ruin any influence which we might have with students when we use sarcasm or unjust punishments, show favoritism or laxity on some occa-sions, or exercise undue ~ever!ty on others. Examen is the means which we have at our disposal to develop in us that self=control which is so necessary for the teacher. To be kind when words of sarcasm rise to outlips, to be exacting ~h~n we fed sluggish and lazy, to give words of correction which yet, do not cut, to be patient when we have had little sleep or food (as on fast days), ~o work steadily despite the fact that "results" are not forthcoming--is M1 this.poisible without examen? Most prob-ably not. As soon as we stop working at examen, we find ourselves difficult to get along with, harsh, lazy, or sarcastic. The weeds of our defects spring up rapidly'bnce we lay down the hoe of particular exam'en. 4. Particular examen is a sine qua non for communit~l life. All of the.foregoing can be just as well applied to community life. Com-munity life sometimes causes a lot of friction, some heat, and at times, even fire. Examen is the~exercise we need to mold our charac-ters so that we learn to avoid occasions which.cause arguments' or to cement, fraternal relations, once they are broken.~ Community life is sometimes a big cross; there is no need to make Jrbigger for a fellow r~ligious. 5. Examen is one of the best means we have of attaining our ideal, desus,'Son of Marv. Putting off the old man and putting on the new man is quite a job for us weak mortals, afflicted as we.are by 1"78 953 PARTICULAR EXAMEN the effects of original sin. It seems impossible that a religious can be sincere and continue hi~ striving for perfection in religious life with-out keeping up with the daily examen. Progress tgward making ourselves like to Jesus, Son of Mary, is made only by the grace of God and constant striving on,our part. Much of oar progress in the spiritual life proceeds, ex opere operantis. And examen is an excel-lent measuring rod for our own effort. 6. Examen is one of our most poten~t means of recruitment. Stu-dents join our ranks, not because of what we say or what we write. but because o~ what we are. If we are real religious, if we are. happy in the knowledge that we are striving to perfect ourselves,, if we show the acquired virtues of patience, charity, humility, and piety, it is ~mpossible that recruits will not come to us. Is there a. better adver, tisement for the religious life than a real religious, one who is daily advancing in virtue? Holiness attracts. Examen is a potent means of holiness. . Perhaps you do not agree with all or even any of the foregoing reflections. 'Be that as it may, you must admit that, granted that particular examen is necessary, we often negl.ect this important reli-gious exercise. Not only must we strive to be present for the examen each day, but we must make it fruitful by daily striving.~ Growth. in" virtue seems to demand the daily examen. As his particular examen goes, so goes the religious. P. De Letter, S.J. The particular examen i~ a common practice of modern spiritual-ity, As every canonical fiovice knows, it consists in direct.ing atten-tion to a particular point, either a fault to be corrected or some practice of virtue, to be fostered. Popularized if not originated by St. Ignatius~ of Loyola, this has become a common tactic in the spir-itual life. All have a passing acquaintance with it. As proposed in the Spiritual ExWcises, attention is to be focused on the particular examen three times every day: at the morning oblation, in theexam-ination of conscience at noon, and again 'during the evening exam-ination. Through this practice gifferent defects, are "gradually elim-inated and needed virtues acquired. 179 ~ P DE LETTER Remeto for Rehgtous A Fact from Experience Yet some religious do not succeed with the particular examen. They apparently fail to see its use 6r grasp its meaning: At any rate, they draw little, profit from it even whrn they do not drop it alto-gether as a useless formality. This is true even among religious who in no way neglect their interior life. Their failure is not due to wil-ful neglect or to tepidity. They simply do not' see their way to making a success of the practice. . Since sound spiritual writers speak so highly of the worth of the particular examen, it seems desirable to examine some apparent neglect and to revalue._.this spiritual exercise. We may sum up its importance by saying it is a sign of spiritual vitality, especially for those who have spent some years in religion. It may not be all-important m itself, at least when it is thought of and practiced in too narrow a manner. Generally its practice is a good indication that.the interior life is thriving. More often than not, its neglect means alack of spiritual vitality. In a limited sense, fidelity to" the practice of the examen can serve as a barometer reading of spiriti~al fervor. A Restricted Conception of the. Exarnen The formal idea of the particular examen can be applied in two different ways regarding both the choice of the subject matter and the manner of conceiving its pragtice. One way is very concrete and definite, perhaps too mechanical and artificial at least for life-span practice. For instance, we decide on rooting out a habitual fault such as the neglect of silence, resolve to avoid transgressions, and keep a record of the eventually-decreasing faults. Or we concentrate our attention on a specific practice of virtue such as kind interpretation of the actions of others and endeavor to. increase the number of these acts throughout the day, checking at noon and night to see how we have succeeded. This method is very rightly advised in the beginning of the religious life. It is an effective means of correcting exterior faults and defects and of gradually developing a religious way of thinking, speaking, and acting. It is also useful at other periods in life when it is necessary to remedy some faulty way of speaking'or acting that has crept in unnoticed. Another Approach If the particular examen is to measure up to what writers say about it and be a really powerful means of progress, there ought to be another way of conceiving its practice which does justice to its 180 1953 PARTICULAR EXAMEN importance. A number of religious have given the assurance that the following approach "works." Instead of taking just any particular fault or practice of virtue, we should fix on some central interest or need of our spiritual life. If the subiect is important it will less easily be forgotten. Then its !~ractlce, oreferably positive rather than nega-tive, should be conceived in a broad and inclusive manner. By means of the resolve made and renewdd at the three times--morning, noon, and night--we work at gradually penetrating our working day with an ideal or conviction rather than at c.ounting a number of particular acts 6r ,defects. To be more specific, the most suitable ;sub.iect matter for our par-ticul~ r examen is the main resolution or resolutions of our annual re- " treat. When this subiect is properly" chosen, it answers a real need and generMly our great~st one. It may crystallize into some maxim or mqtto. Then the oractice will consist in keeping this before our mind or recalling it when needed and pbssible. We thus slowly come to live in the atmost)here or disposition which our watchword con-veys. ¯ We begin to think, speak, and act accordingly. Some examples are: "The LordIoves a cheerful giver": "Ndt for me, Lord, but for Thee": "To have that mind in you which is in Christ." The prac-tice of framing our resolution in a driving maxim or a quotation from Scripture can be very helpful 'though it is not essential. What is essential is to keep before our mind a definite objective, sufficiently central and important for our personal interior life, such as cannot be lost sight of as long as our effort for spiritual "progress is kept alive. In this method our faithfulness and success in the,practice of the par-ticular examen are the criterion of our vitality and fervor. This will create a .congenial interior climate in which our souls can thrive. The importance of tEis concep~ion of the examen is evident at once. Nor is there any danger that we shall overlook and forget it throughout a busy day. If our work is permeated with a driving spiritual ideal, as it should be if it is to be different from mere secular work, a particular examen that looks after 6ur present main spiritual need will help sustain this retreat-clear inspiration. It is only in moments of forgetfulness when we neglect grace and allow natural-ism to guide our thought or conduct that the particular examen will also suffer from this spiritual thoughtlessness, But the examen itself, by reason of the resolve and the effort it implies, helps to forestall or exclude and .certainly to dimi6ish these "secular moments" in our days. 181 P. DE LETTER Review [or Religious Room [or Varietg We need not fear that this method will leave no room for a helpful variety that will maintain interest. When our particular examen aims at our central, yet definite, spiritual interest or need, its subject, matter can and naturally will take on many different aspects according to the variations of that interest or need, directed both by grace and by our psychology. As a matter of fact, our spiritual needs and interests evolve gradhally according to seasons and circumstances and to the inspirations of grace. These will reveal now one,e, ~now another side which before remained more or less hidden or unnoficed. Moreover, when our retreat resolutio.n, as is gener~ally the case, is not restricted to one but foresees several particular needs, we can alternate the practice and change from one to the other when the 'one seems to have worn out and lost its grip. Later, we can often return to the first with a refreshed outlook and new ardor. ( Dispositions and/or Acts Does this manner of practicing the examen require specific acts as does the first, or may we dispense with these? It may require them and generally does. That depends on the subject matter and on in-dividual dispositions. Some people can maintain a habitual disposi-tion of recollectedness or selflessness without insis(ing on or multiply- , ing definite acts. Others are in need of such acts, which arise spon-taneously from their resolve to be recollected or self-forgetful. spirit of praye.r normally demands some explicit acts of formal prayer; habitual or virtual prayer alone would not be sufficient. Self-lessness, trust, apostolic zeal can be habitual dispositions, but some explicit acts, whether exterior or interior, would not do any harm but would help very much even if they were not altogether necessary. The marking in a book after the noon "and evening check-up, which is generally a real help to our dodging human nature,'is not to be overlooked in this second way. But it need not be done in numer-als. Some people are congenitally poor in.arithmetic. Instead of marking the number of acts or df faults, a gener~al notation may suf-fice, for instance: good, average, poor; or A, B, C; or any way one prefers. When we mean business with our particular examen and make use of all the means to succeed, we still must expect times when our effort will have little success. Some days everything goes well spir-itually; other days it does not. These ups and downs need not be 182 July, 1953 PARTICULAR EXAMEN ; magnified; even in0 the "downs:' our effort can and generally does remain substantially faithful and successful to an extent. This should not be oveHooked: otherwise unwarranted and naive optim-ism may flounder during low moods, Provided our desire and effort .does not flag, even this partly unsuccessful particular examen still marks a steady progress. - The second way of conceiving and. practicing the particular exa-men makes the exercise not just a small device for casual use if it suits but rather an important ~nd obligatory factor in every serious effort for progress. Without it. spiritual life~.slackens if it does not die down. Perhaps we should say that every, fervent life actually keeps this practice of the particular examen, though possibly without giving it that name. Every fervent spirituality is practically boun,d to aim at and concentrate on some definite objective required by the present need. Fervent sduls do so spontaneously. It can only make for better ~esults if they are aware of this law of spiritual vitality and resolve to follow it. Seen in this light, the particular examen-is an essential unit inthe structureof spiritual progress. It is, not just a decorative trifle. We need not fear that this determined and steady effort at lJrog-ress in one particular direction will result in a state of uneasy t~nslon and nervousness. As in the whole spiritual life, so also here, ti~e-de-sire and endeavor for advancement must combine ardor and peace,, earnestness and patience, genuine'effort and disinterested acceptance of the results. For is it not grace that makes our effort possible and suc-cessful? Human endeavor is a subordinate factor. It is no doubt, necessary: grace does ndt replaceit. But it is trust in grace combined with sincerity in not sparing ourselves unduly that makes a burning, yet peaceful ardor possible. The particular examen, understood in this grand and realistic way,, repays, th~ effort we make in a measure which it is impossible,to anticipate. Fidelity to grace is often re-warded beyond human expectation. Gabriel A. Zema, S.J. 1. Let us take, for example, the habit of passing on to a friend or acquaintance our low opinion of the fault or sin 0f another. De-pending on circumstances, the thing may be no sin at all, a.venial, or a mortal sin. Even if no actual sin, it is a habit that belongs to no 183 GABRIEL A. ZEMA lady or gentleman; and it can lead to a lot of trouble. 2. On rising, or after morning prayer, write a figure, say "3," some place where you can again see it at the end of the day. (Even nosey people will never know what "3" stands for.) For you "Y' means you are determined to control your tongue three times that day on the habit you set ouk to break. 3. When you look at the figure at the end of the day while examining your conscience as every sincere re!igious.should--it is pos- Sible you won't know what it stands for yourself. You may even have forgotten you put it there. ,But a little reflection will bring back the breaking-that-habit idea. 4. Very well, begin all over again. On the second day you may find that you have not controlled your tongue even once. Go to the third day more determined than ever. 5. I~eep'up the practice for ten or twelve days. You will find a definite improvement if you are at all serious about it. 6. At the end of ten or twelve days take tip another fault and give it ~he same treatment. Follow the same procedure. After you have worked on three or four faults.--never forgetting to keep im-' proving on them--go back to the first one and see how the patient looks! 7. In morning and evening prayers ask Our Lady to come to your aid. BOOK NOTICE THE INTERIOR CARMEL: THE THREEFOLD WAY OF LOVE, by John C. H. Wu, a very brilliant Chinese. convert, diplomat, and scholar, "wi'll help highly intellectual.lay men and women to raise their spiritual lives of contemplation and divine love td an equal height and to give them something of the lofty mysticism that char-acterized St. John of the Cross. It will also aid very busy religious or priests to make their exterior activities conducive to a ,higher and more intense internal spirit. Interestingly and inspiringly Dr. Wu quotes the ancient Cbiriese sages, Confucius and Mencius, to rein-force the lessons of modern Catholic and Spanish Carmelite mysti-cism. (New York: Sheed and Ward, 1953. Pp. xii + 257. $3.25.) 184 Child Mo!:her: r cious ynt:hesis Mother Winifred Corrigan, r.c. AT HOLY COMMUNION, the soul authentically in love with ~ God, is sometimes conscious of itself as a banq~ethall in which the memorable gospel of the anointing of the Lord's feet by "a sinner" is being reenacted. This soul becomes aware in itself of two sep.arate impulses. One is the generous spirit of the Magdalen, utterly expending self for the beloved Master, freely offering to spend its best years in obscurity or lovingly giving its body to be burned. The other impulse, also within .the soul, is viewing, rea-soning, even objecting: "To what purpose is this waste?" It is the soul speaking in terms of the apostle 3udas, not yet the traitor, who prudently considers the extravagance of broken alabaster."For this might have been sold for much, and given to the poor." That Our Blessed Lord openly favored and approved the sym-bolic self-surrender ~f Mary Magdalen, the sinner, we know. "The poor you have always with you but me you have not.always." We have experienced, too, bow the logic of Divine Wisdom reconciles our opposing desires and restores equilibrium. "Thy. sins are for-given thee. Thy faith hath'made thee safe, go in peace." Devotion to Mary performs a similar function. It tends to unify two spiritual realities sometimes thought to be at variance: the doctrines of spir-itual" cbildbood and spir!tual motherhood. Why are these doctrines ever considered incomigatible? In the natural order, it is plain that the two states, childhood and mother-hood, are not in opposition. Obviously, the same person can be both child and mother. The basic concept, mother, one who merci-fully sustains the life of her offspring ("do not kill it"), is unfor-gettably presented to us as illustrating the wisdom of Solomon. "Give the living Child to this woman.for she is the mother there-of." This concept of mother ~choes the first woman's name, Eve, mother of the living. The concept of child, in the Divine Mind, is expressed for us in the Fourth Commandment. In the Book of Ec-clesiasticus (Chapter 3) the blessings of fruitfulness and long life are promised in detail to the loving, obedient child. Writing to his dear Ephesians, St. Paul confirms this divine revelation for New Testa- 185 MOTHER WINIFRED CORRIGAN Review for Religious merit times.- "Children, obey your parents in. the Lord, for this is just. Honor thy father and thy mother, which is the first command-ment with a prorriise: that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest be long lived upon earth." Thus, for the Christian, it is natural for the faithful child to become fruitful, nor would the sacrifice of mar- ¯ riage and family usually be required in order to keep the Fourth Commandment. In the supernatural order, the harmonious' sequence between the roles of child and mother is less apparent. In making ready to lighten up the mists by reference to M.ary, it may be well to clarify the meaning of the terms, spiritual childhood and spiritual mother-hood, according to Scripture and the lives of the saints. Spiritual Childhood Our Lord has strongly set forth the reality, even. the necessity of spiritual childhood. "Amen, I say to you, unless you be converted, and become as little, children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." He then counsels the humility of a little child for his disciples, and for all who would be "greater in the kingdom of heaven." The reality of spiritual motherhood is presented for us in the forceful language of St. Paul. "My little dhildren," he wrote to the Galatians, "of whom I am in labor again, until Christ be formed in you." His apostolic cry for souls re-echoes the appeal of the Divine Lover, heard in the Old Testament (Isaias 49:15). There it tran-scends rather than distinguishes itself from the pangs of .natural motherhood. "Can a woman forget her infant, so as not to have pity on the son of her wombs. And if she should forget, y.et will I not forget thee/' Amid the miracles of Our Lord Jesus Christ, we find this divine, motherly concern for human needs manifesting itself in a sweet, considerate way. He took the hand of Jairus' 12"-year-old daughter and raised her from the dead. Then, having counselled her parents to secrecy, he "commanded that something should be given her to eat." Some of tl'Je saints have discovdred the .beautiful qualities of spir-itual childhood and spiritual motherhood.contained in the above and similar passages. At Holy Communion, they have explored the mystery of their Eucharistic Lord .entering the human body, resting there like a helpless, unborn child, in order to nourish the life of the soul. The Divine Word, repeating the mother's cry: "Do not kill 186 Jul~,1953 GRACIOUS SYNTHESIS it!" 'daily fulfills His own promise: "The bread that I will give. is my flesh, for the life of the world." The saints have understood how, by their very self-effacement, by being belittled and becoming as little children, they too can maternally assis~ in the birth, growth, and' development of the Mystical Body. St. Th~r~se of the Ch'ild Jesus (1873-1897) has renewed the interest of the modern world in the doctrine Of spiritual.childhood: Her position as youngest child of the Martin family and her early entrance into religious life preserved in her soul the true attitude of a child. How this spirit of utter dependence on her heavenly Father helped her to fulfill her maternal duties as nox}ice mistress to the souls "who came to me asking for food," she tells with unique charm in her Autobiographgt (p. 213). Her present title of patroness of the missions suggests the breadth of her spiritual moFherh0od, hidden deep in her youth and Carmel. No discordant contrast is the spirituality of Blessed Th~r~se Couderc (1805-1885), foundress of the Congregation of Our Lady of the Retreat in the Cenacl~. As the oldest girl in a large family and as young superior of a religious community, sloe early developed the valiant traits characteristi(of spiritual motherhood. Then. con-sequent upon bet consecration to Our Lady, shesaw her responsibili-ties removed and she went down willingly into years of oblivion. In her 60th year, Blessed Th~r~se or, as we know her better, Mother Th~r~se, had emerged from the darkness of humiliation and failure, to find herself a humble, cherished adorer confronted with the holi-ness of God. "He treats me always." she wrote at this time, "like a child who would not have the strength to bear trials, Also the sweetness He makes me feel in His service makes me forget and bear all." This is the stage at which she detailed her doctrine of self-surrender. While it graduall~ led her into the thicket of unitive suffering and reparation, she continued to call it an easy means of sanctification, noting that there is "nothing so sweet to practice.': Marg, the Ideal The ideal of self-surrender is Our Lady of the Cenacle. It is Our- Blessed Mother in th~ last. perhaps 15-year, epoch of her earthly life. She has already received her Divine son's formal commission for the motherhood of mankind, on Calvary. In the Cenacle or "upper room," by a mother's persevering prayer and a claild's anonymity- ("who when she was first of all became-the last" St. Bernard), 187 COMMUNICATIONS ReotetO [or Reltgtot~s Mary continues to attract us to the sublime by the gracious synthesis of her life. In religious life, Mary's spirit is learned and gained in a'variety o.f ways: perhaps in the shared intimacy of Holy Communion, perhaps in the fragrant solitude of a retreat. Our Lady is ever the, true child ,and the true mother. Her spirit, '!meek and strong, zealous and prudent, humble and courageous, pure and fruitful," imparts to us our own proper measure of both these roles. When we have reverently analyzed ~and appreciated the doctrines of spiritual childhood and spiritual motherhood, we may be allowed to accommodate an angel's words as our simple directive,. "Take the Child and His mother." Thus, sincere, day to day imitatio'n of Our Blessed Mother. gradually becomes our meaningful response to an ever more imRerative invitation. We then find that we have tended to integrate in our spiritual .life the two ways'of which Mary, our model, is the gracious synthesis. Reverend Fathers: I agree with Sr. Ma~y Jude', 0.P., in her articl~, "The Summa for Sisters" (March, 1953), that a study of the works of St. Thomas would help our Sisters become better religious and better teachers However, I do not agree with Sister regarding "the distinctive phe-nomenon of the active orders today." Professed religious who are seeking admission to contemplative orders are a growing concern of the Church, but they are not a phe-nomenon. They are the logical result of the transition that has been taking place within active orders. Truly "their final profession is far enough behind," but a glance at those former days may illuminate the darkness, mistrust, and mis-understanding that surrounds them. When ~hey entered religious life the goal was one--it was clear-cut, that is, perfection which would I, mean intimate union with God. During their novitiate and perhaps I' for the first ten years of their religious life their concentrated all their it efforts to attain this end. Then stress was not on education, nursing, i! or Catholic Action, but on the presence of God and the pursuit of I virtue; however, because of pressure from without, the change of l 188 duly, 1953 COMMUNICATIONS standards, and the requirements by the St'ate, professional knowledge, ability, and skill became a necessity. Therefore. higher education with Saturday and weekday classes was added to teaching, plus parent-teacher m~etings, sodalities, public relation groups, discussion clubs and first~id courses. These religious lack neither intelligence nor good will. They readily admit with St. Thomas the greatness of the charity of the apostolate. Theylive, for the most part, lives of self-renunciation and sacrific6. Other,wise they would not be seeking admission to the cloister.- Nor are they seeking only the joys of contemplation. Most of them would gladly spend themselves and be spent in the apostdlate if they could still be c~rtain that their union with God was increasing not decreasing. But the signs point in the opposite direction. Let us look at one of these Sisters of fifteen y~ars ago. Today, instead of the one goal of 'union with God, she has another, that of professional competence. What has happened to her.as a result? First, the intensity of her desires and her efforts in the spir~itual life has naturally been weakened by her concentration on her work. Second!y, the virtues of the interior life, silence, and recollection do not have the opportunity for development they had in fdrmer days. Distractions in one form or another and activity hinder their growth. Thirdly, the virtues of the hiddefi life have become watery. They lack the positive yirility that so characterizes interior souls. She is in the world and does not wish to be of the world, yet its spirit of ac-tivity and distraction are now hers. ~ Viewing these results, she finds a growing conviction that her. spiritual life is deprived of the degree of vitality that once was hers and thai the culprit is activity. From this conviction flows the fear that her work and its accessories are separating her from Christ. It is not the fear of a neurotic; it is a well:founded fear that demands recognition and attention. No zealous religious desires to go to heaven alone; no thinking religious denies the value of the apostolic life,, but there is much ac-tivity in the life of the religious today that could not conceivably be put in the category of Apostolic. Those who strive to unite prayer and action as St. Paul and St. Thomas, St. Catherine and St, Teresa of Avila did, find they fall short of the ideal, in fact they fail. Tl~is is not just subjective thinking. It can be proven without much spiritual examination. As in nations, so in groups, and so with the individual, the pe- 189 COMMUNICATIONS ~" riod of adjustment is 'fraught with dangers. These must not be spurned. They should be recognized and analyzed. It is the chal- . lenge of our age. , The desire for contemplation is rapidly growing in America, not o~ly.in orders of women but also among men. We have a Father Moore, a Father Raymond, and a Father Merton, to name only a few outstanding ones, to prove this. Not only is contemplation sought by' religious in active orders, but so many young, eager Americans have sought admission to the Trappist Monastery in Kentucky that they .have had to build five new foundations in a short time, The Carthusians, stiil in their infancy in America, have a waiting list. All. this is significant. ¯ Would Sr. Mary Jude say all these people were exceptions, or that they lack the ability to find the delicate balance between prayer and work. I doubt it. Looking at it from this' broader .point of view, we see that this cbndition of which~ Sister M, Jude speaks i~ only a branch of a much larger river that is sweeping America from coast to coast. If we wish to insure the vitality and growth of our active orders, we must see that. the desire for intimate union 'with Christ is given outlets and opportunities for development, .even if it means the curtailment of many activities. We can do without the latter, but without the for-mer all action is but sounding brass and tinklilag cymbals. --A SYMPATHIZER. "BLESSED BE HER GLORIOUS ASSUMPTION" .On December 23, 1952, Our Holy Father, Pope Pius XII, decreed that the in-vocation printed above is.to be added, to'the Divine Praises whenever they are re-cited after Mass or'after Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.' In the official publi-cation of this decree, which appeared in the Acti~ Apostolica Sed~'s under date of March 21, 1953, vol. 45, p. 194, it was stated that this new invocation should be inserted after the invocation "!Blessed be~ th~ Name of Mary Virgin and Mother." However, L'Osseroatore Romano for April 9 contained a correction, issued by the Sacred Congregation of Rites on Apr!l 8, to the effect that it should be inserted im-mediately after the other invocation: ',',Blessed be her Holy and Immaculate C.oncep, tion." ,. The ob'.i~ati0n of inserting this new. invocation into the Divine Praises begins on dune 21, 1953, that date being three months from the date of the ACtu Apos-tolicae Sedis in which the decree appeared, in conformity with canon 9 of the Code of Canon Law. We take this occasion to remind our readers that on Oc~0ber 31-, 1950, in con-nection with the formal definition, Pope Pius XII decreed that the invocation Queen assumed into f-leaven should be added to the Litany of Loretto after the ~'oCation "Queen conceived without original :sin." At the same time he also up-, proved a new Mass which is to replace the Mass formerly said on the Feast of the Assumption. 190 I Spiri :ual Progress and Regress Charles A. Nash, S.J. AN IDEA as old as St, Augustine, and. rebbrn in Rodriguez, pic-tures the spiritual life "as a ,b~all of string you are carefully winding up. IL once you drop it, it readily unwinds, and it takes a long time and much effort to .wind it up again. This same idea, on a natural plane, permeates the business day of six thousand psychiatrists in the United States who have become profoundly, interested in what happens once the ball of life is dropped and starts to unwind. Their technical name for it is regression or the reversal of t~ae normal steps Of growth. Regression is of such paramount im-portance in psychiatry that it is often .defined as "the science of re-gressive phenomena." The aim of this article is to picture regression in the spiritual life and.to use psychiatric data in order to empha.size certain psychological factbrs that underlie spiritual progress. " Because it is their.daily, business, psychiatrists today are fast be-coming experts in the delicate art of character change or the forward step to maturity, As modern scientific.innovators in an ancient field. these medical specialists have made many valuable scientific investi-gations and acquired much practical experience in the last twenty-five years. Religious ark wise to profit by some of their ideas on regress and pr,og~ess toward maturity 'which have a direct practical bearing on the religiou~ life. Like the psychiatrist, a religious, too, practices daily the delicate art of character change, but be aims at a greater spiritual maturity. The forward progress at which a psy-chiatrist aims in treating his patient strikes a close parallel to the for-ward progress of a religious in the spiritual life. Both involve a gradual change of character. Psychiatrists must know character change in two directions, both Zegre~s and progress. The classic exampl,e of regression or unwinding in human life is old age. We are often a casual witness when time, by its slow process, lays its fingeron a man. We have watched elderly PerSons gradually drop things most cherished in !ife, one by one. first a man b~gins to lose the wide ifiterests he once had. Sports no longer interest him; he stops traveling is much as he used to; his friendships narrow dow.n; interest in his daily, work begins to lag. All gradually culminate in his retirement.1 If he.k~eps his mind open '~Leland El Hinsie?Concepts and Problems of Ps~ychotherapg, p. 124: Understand-able Psgchiatrg, chapter on "Regression." * 191 ¯ CHARLES A. NA~H Reoietu for Religious and pliant and is ready to welcome whatever the future may bring, the elderly pers.on often mqves gracefully through his last years. Often enough, however, his mind closes up and he loses track of the day and the hour. He becomes hostile to what is new, to change, to innovation, closing off hislmind to the future. In the ,course of time he may become self-centered and petulant, and fall back upon the 'manners of his childhood, then of his infancy. He may have to be bathed, fed, dressed, assisted in walking. For him it is a haven of repose, a citadel of safety. He has reverted to his "second child-hood" and regressed to the activities of an infant. Besides the com-plete unwinding of habits of maturity in "second childhood," there are many pictures of partially unwound habits which are but-smaller portraits on a much reduced scale. Unwinding Spiritual Life Complete spiritual regression can be 'seen in-the nominal of "fallen-away" Catholic of any age who knows his religion but drops. its practice entirely. The unwinding spiritual, life runs down a path more or_ less parallel to "old age and ~econd childhood." The ¯"fallen-away" .Catholic's practical interest in religion slowly wanes, and he gradually closes off his mind to religion, becoming spiritually self-centered. One by one he drops the religious practices he once cher-ished. -Sunday is like any other day; the churchdoor remains ever .i:los~d. He stops going to Mass; he falls away from the Sacraments: his prayer life diminishes to a minimum or none at all. Gradually, his acquired spiritual habits Unwind until he is back to "childhood," where spiritual obligations and.moral responsibilities are at a mini-mum. He has traded away God for careless, vacant ioaming. As far as religion is concerned, he is once' again like a small boy, sans reason and his seventh birthday. Instead of progressing to an ever greater possession of God, he has gone backwards. Here, too, miniature por-traits of regression are quite common in the spiritual life where a spiritual habit or two may start to unwind. Progress and regress follow definite patterns. .One is a dynamic, forward-moving pattern toward maturity; the other moves back-ward down the path a man has come up, Life experience normally present~ the picture of a continuum of, forward growth along a life-line which falls into natural periods: birth, childhood,, adolescence, young manhood, adulthood, change of life, and decline. It is the common lot of mortal man to :crown his numberless daily experi- 192 Jul~j, 1953 PROGRESS AND REGRESS ences with.an ever greater maturity. This growing maturity is dearly won through countless small successes. In sharp contrast, the re-gression pattern, at any age and at any level of development, is a're-versal of the' normal steps of growth along', this life-line. Read the life-line forward and you have progress; read it backward and you have regression. Psychiatrists'~tell us that every man takes a backward step now and then. No one, save Christ our Lord and His Blessed Mother, is co,mple.te master of his every action. For religious, the single back-ward step may occur in problems of obedience,' the daily order, pov-erty, t~he practice of virtue, the daily rosary, spiritual reading--to name but a few possibilities. The single backward step is not. so significant. When this backward step becomes a definite pattern, then real spiritual regression is beginning. But despite" occasional backward steps, psychiatrists say the nor-real person is about ninety per cent adjusted to life.~ About ten per "cent of life he cannot quite master and he dodges it in one way or another. In other words, man's daily batting average is about .900; the ratio of small successes in life to small failures is about ninety to ten. Whether saint or sinner, some failure pursues him every day, but success (forward progress) definitely predominates in his actions. Dgnamic Equilibrium Because he is fundamentally successful but always carries some failure in tow, the average person strikes a balance with life. He reacts in terms of an equilibrium--a dynamic, forward-moving equilibrium in which progressive factors predominate, ,but regressive ones are also present. This equilibrium ,is built into the very struc-ture of his mind through the years. It is his own practical system of reacting to life, his working method of dealing with experience de-rived ,from his past.psychological history. Psychiatrists have learned~ to investigate this equilibrium scientifically and now actually measure it,.with~scientific formulas,a When it breaks down, regression begins. If it does not break down, progress continues. ~This figure refers to the over-all or.comprehensive picture of all man's actions in meeting life. Personal success in one particular action, however, may vary from mastery, to littleor no control. Leland E. Hinsie, Concepts and Problems of Pay-. chotherapt./, p. 77. Edward A. Strecker, Fundamentals of Ps~/chiatr~/, graph on p. 231, 3E~lward A. Strecker, Fundamentals of Psv. chiatr~t, p. 51. Franz Alexander and H~len Ross, Dgnamic Psgchiatrg, p. 140. CHARLES A. NASH Reoieto for Religious This dynamic equilibrium produces manifold effects. It gives an even tenor to, man's ways and stability to his character. It embeds past success in the human system for'future successful operation. As a result, whatever a man does in his normal day leaves most of his old order standing. A singld act, forward or backward, leaves most of his autobiography of character largely unchanged. Occasional back-ward steps are readily tolerated and absorbed without throwing the forward motion offstride. Because of it, a major change of character. occurs slowly. A spiritual character change requires many actions over a considerable period of time. In many aspects of life this equilibrium acts as a shock-absorber, an internal ,resistance built right into the structure of personality for resisting the "blows of outrageous foitune." For instance, a death in the family may score a temporary psychological and emotional knockout in other members of the family~. But soon the pendulum swings back to normal and old habits take over once again. Gradu-ally, the appreciation of life built up through the years prevails, and life goes forward once more. Because of his equilibrium, a man does not deteriorate psychologically at one major blow, nor can ,he turn himself'inside out, for better or worse, overnight. Role o~ Failure After much failure or long-enduring stress, this same personal balance or equiliblium can wear thin or even "break down." When this occurs, the backward pattern of regression slowly begins. Then, a religious falls back upon lower and lower levels of his spiritual life, and becomes beset by earlier and earlier habits of his career. The first failure is easy to take, but not a series of them. Failtire is hard on morale, and daily failure has a numbing effect on our effort. The effect of failure is to close off the mind to the difficulty and 0fall back upon.earlier habits. After repeated failure, for instance, a religious may gradually close off his mind to formal mental prayer, and fall back upon his earlier habits when mental prayer was not part of the daily schedule. All spiritual regression has one point in common: it is a back-ward step to an earlier and easiei adjustment to the difficulties of the spiritual life. At the, same time, unfortunately, spiritual progress either slows down or stops. Part of the goal drops out of the picture "for the present," and there is a partial farewell to hopes of greater things. Instead of the "new man in Cl~rist," it is a return to the 194 PROGRESS AND REGRESS "old man" of self when spiritually less mature. The significance of regression in the spiritual life is that it sounds the knell of forward progress. Continued progress requires that a religious take failure~ in stride. Often small successes in life become so integrated into a religious per-sonality that they almost go unnoticed. We only see and take note of our failures, and they can come to loom large on the daily hori-zon. After repeated failure, therd is danger that a religious will close his mind and chart his future course by past failure. The true measure of the future, bower(r, is past success. There is no small touch of humility and wisdom in expecting some daily failure and not charting our future course by it. Man normally moves forward in a dynamic equilibrium with a ninety per-cent rate of success. American Stgiritualitg The pace or tempo of character chahge is a slow one. Being' American-minded, we naturally expe.~t rapid results. The very at- . mosphere of our times--an era of modern machine .efficiency, high- 13ressure business methods, production miracles, and high-speed travel--promotes an ingrained bent toward immediate success. Rightly' or wrongly, we feel there should be a twentieth-century ¯ masterkey to the spiritual life, a foolproof device as dependable ?s the multiplication table. Yet strangely enough, our spiritual life seems to move at the tempo of the first centuiy in a twentieth-century World. True character change may be hard to see. We Americans see the, entrancing picture of industrial production, but we look upon spiritual progress in our own lives as a vague or blank picture. Sanc-tifying grace and internal actual grace are both intangible and invis-ible. We sow the representative crops, the seeds of humility, love of God, obedience, and the other virtues, yet always wonder2--when's the harvest? To see results, we often make one good resolution suc-ceed another in rapid succession, turning our spiritual life into a series of short-term cycles, partly for variety, partly to convince ourselves that we are getting somewhere and making progress. But after six months of short-term cycles we are ready to doubt whether we are changed an iota. That old spiritual problem which we settled once, and for all two weeks ago somehow surges back to life again today. A series of .these experiences can readily warp ore: spiritual judgment or ~lgrudence and lead to loss of effort and discouragement. Then 195 CHARLES A. NASH Review for Religious failure charts our course. Being constitutiOnall~y successful, we shift our effort to some more promising line of_ endeavor, and the spirit of' spiritual progress becomes like a ghost on the outermost rim of the real business of daily living. 200-300 Hours Psychiatrists have much this same time-problem. How much time is required to make a permanent change in a patient's character~ How long to turn a man around and start him forward again on the life-line to maturity? A considerable body of evidence indicates that it takes two hundred to three hundred hours, roughly speaking; to make a permanent character change.4 This means one hour a day, seven days a week for about nine months devoted to making the change, whate;cer that change may be. No matter how un-American it may sound, there seems to be normally no substitute for time in a 'permanent character change. Even if our minds thunder and rever-berate in syllogisms, it still takes from two to three hundred hours to drive' the lesson home permanently and to relate it in experience to the concrete parts of life. A religious may profitably add a bit of timing to his spiritual motor; Permanent growth is not like reading through a spiritual book in three or four days ~nd expecting the result; it is more l,!ke the slow, nine-months' nurturing of the child in the mother's womb. It is not the work of a day or a week, but it finds a closer parallel in the one hour a day for nine months thata student devotes, say, to mathe-matics ~r history or language in school. Putting on a facet of Christ's personality is not done in one meditation; it slowly develops like the b.aby slowly developing back and neck muscles, balancin'g on his feet at six months, and finally learning to walk near the end of a year. Permanent character change, is more in the image of St.,Peter and the Apostles learning confidence in Christ over a period of several years, and still being a bit shaky at His death when confronted with actual life experience. But worth noting is the ever-recurring fact of suc-cess. After nine months in the womb the baby actually is born; a year later he walks; in nine months the student knows his history, mathematics, and language. In time the Apostles did attain cona-dence in Christ. Actual success is the constant experience of the hu-man race if timk and energy are dev6ted to the task. 4Leland E. Hinsie, Concepts and Problems of Psychotherapy, 11-12. 169. John Knight, S~o'ry oI My Psychoanalysis, 2-3. 196 155, 166- Ju~,~, ! 953 PROGRESS AND REGRESS ¥~rhat l~appens in two or three hundred hours? In that time our perso.nal equilibrium changes. Through ~ur mind and emotions there slowly winds a new track of virtue all its own. Character change invoIyes a rather thoroughgoing shift in our habitual reaction to life. It requires a new appreciation of life as a permanent part of the m~nd, a' new emotional pattern, a new reaction to a vast number of concrete situations. Suppose, for example, a close friend dies with whom you have associated night and day for ten years. In all the old situations which constantly remind you of this lost friend you m~lst make clear to yourself that you have this friend no longer, and that a renunciation is necessary. He is Vividly represented {n many personal memories and experiences. You will have to correct your reactions for many a day, and detachment must t~ke place separately in each instance. Similarly in character chan, ge. "The single action, the passing thought hardly dents the human system: it remains more like a feeble echo in the soul. A single action leaves one's equilibr!uin for meeting life largely unchanged. In two or three hundred" hours, however, the new reaction "works through" and permeates our mind and our thinking~ In that time it develops its own emotional pat-tern and becomes permanently related in experience to most of the concrete parts of life. Factors in Adult Progress As adults, we tend to sell human nature short. We frequently forget what a long way we have come since childhood, the countless number of small successes involved in our present degree of maturity. Starting out as a helpless babe, man slowly learns t6 walk, to speak, to run, to master language, to enjoy countless new experiences,, to cope with school life, to earn a living, to marry and support a fam-ily. Any one of thesehas practical difficulties of time and energy and personal ability somewhat like those in the spiritual life: Yet by the common experience of mankind, their attainment ih practically cer-~ rain if sufficient time and energy is devoted to the task. As adults we tend to forget the countless milestones we have already passed, and even come to expect no new milestones in the future. Often as adults we cut down on spiritual time and energy, and act in the practical order as if religious experience had been exhausted. If a religious tries to compress thirty hours int6 twenty-four, it is inevitable that he will have to scalp time from his spiritual life to ac-complish this feat. In this regard it would seem that all of us are endowed with a certain native shrewdness of the horse-trading vari- 197 CHARLES A. NASH ety. But little time means little progress. Sometimes we run our spiritual life like a carburetor with too thin a mixture of energy to operate the machine. Life's fast teinpo drains away energy. The more our limited daily energy is channeled to other things, the less remains available for character change or spiritual growth. ~ If there is no time and energy, there is no progress. As we grow older, our ideas of spiritual experience tend to become mote and more .rigid. Spiritual progress is difficult in a rigid mind, like mov, ement in a. straitjacket. Progress demands an open and pliant mifid with the door ever open to wider spiritual experience. Often in order to pro-gress we first have to unstiffen our spiritual ideas and keep them lim-ber. Age is not a true limit to spiritual growth. Remai'ning ever an experiencing being, man normally moves ever forward irma dynamic equilibrium toward an ever greater maturity in God. If the human mind closes to the future, it falls back upon the past. Not age but the man himself puts a stop to progress, by refusing new spiritual ex-perience. The Divine Plan Time, energy, and an open mind docile to the Holy Spirit fit into God's design for human experience on earth. In His divine plan as the Creator of human nature and every human experience, God has an eminently skilful regard for bo~h the strength and the weakness of the earthly pilgrim in his slow daily progress. He assists the slo~v, three-hundred-hour pace by the superior motivation of divine reve-lation, by countless actual graces, by the supernatural virtues of faith, hope, and charity. When only a miracle can be substituted for time, when our very best efforts are always attended by some failure, we catch no small glimmer of the "divinity that shape~ our ends" in the gift of-the three theological virtues. For without hope progress stops; without faith the path grows dim: without love the heart grows faint along the way. But in God's design for religious ex-perience ,the pilgrim is fortified by God Himself. Faith illumines our mind along the road to God; hop~ keeps effort alive and the goal be-fore our eyes; and love is even now a participation of the goal itself while progressing along the way: Divine assistanc~ and a ready w~l-come ever await the pilgrim at every step of his journey. "Come to Me all you that'labor and are heavily burdened and I will refresh you." The lq.ng-run trend of spiritual growth, in God's design, is a quickening triumphal march. ~ 198 The Unseen World Jerom~ Breunig, S.J. THE telescope and microscope have extended our horizons im- | measurably. They have opened up unseen worlds for us. "How mean is earth when I look to heaven," said St. Ignatius one night in Rome more than 400 years ago. Hbw much more mean-ingful this remark is today when the giant eye at Mt. Palomar, California, a 200 inch telescope, helps us penetrate into the sky to the staggering limits of more than one billion light years" and reveals millions of suns like our own moving at the incredible .speed of 500,000 miles, per hour. .~Apart from the findings of the great ob-servatories, even a good telescope on a clear night can reveal wonders hidden to the eye. We can see the pock marks that craters ma~ke on our next ~lo~r neighbor, the moon, which is a scant 238,000 miles fr6m our planet. We. can see the nine moons that cluster about Jupiter, the'ring of light about Saturn, as well as the fiery masses said to be billions of stars. ~The inicroscope opens another unseen world. To the unaided eye what is on the glass slide lo6ks like'a drop of water. Under the microscope we see many protozoa of all kinds. We can see scores of little slipper-shaped animals called paramecia caromin~ about in the water. Perhaps a sluggish, slow-moving amoeba can be sighted or a green euglena of the mastigophora (whip-bearing) family, propel-ling itself by its whiplike tail. After human vision gtopped, the zo-ologist has pushe,d on with his microscdpe to discover 30,000 kinds of protozoa in an unseen world. But there is another world still more 'marvelous and far more important than the worlds that the magnifying glass reveals. It is the unseen world of spiritual realities. Higher visual aid is required to penetrate far into this invisible but real world. We are blind and helpless without the eyes of faith. St. Paul speaks right to the point. "What is faith? It is that which'gives substance to our hopes, which convinces, us of things we cannot see." What are some of the realities in this unseen world? What are some of the "things we cannot see" except with the eyes of fai'th? No one has ever seen a soul at the moment God created it,'when it.left the body, or at any other time. Nor has anyone seen the re-birth of a soul at Baptism when the higher life of grace is infused and the human clay is made immortal diamond, when the bap'tized 199 ,In I JEROME BREUNIG Reoieto for Religious is made a son of God and heir of heaven, when the Three Persons of the Blessed Trinity come and make their home in the soul, trans-forming it into a temple of God. "Blessed are those who have not .seen and have believed." Faith convinces us of things we cannot see. No one has seen a soul red as scarlet washed whiter than snow by the absolution of a priest. Nor has anyone seen the bread of heaven restoring the waning strength of the soul. No one has seen the inexpressible joy of the elect in the mansion,s of heaven, the chastening anguish of the souls in the prison of purgatory, or the black despair of the damned 'in hell. "Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed." Faith convinces us of things we can-not see. Opposition of the Sense-World It is essential to salvation to stay aware of the unseen world but it is not easy. We live in a world of sense. Our very mode of learning is rboted in sense impressions. There is nothing in the mind / that was not first in the senses. Even faith comes by hearing. Our convictions about what we cannot see are constantly being challenged by things we can see. It is a losing battle, naturally. For instance, we will ordinarily be more vividly impressed by paging through a national picture magazine for a few minutes than we will by reading the Imitation of Christ for the same length of time. Unless we con, stan.tly cultivate supra-sensible reality by reading, reflection, and prayer, we will not be able to offset the ever-present attraction of the sensible. We.are also at the m'ercy of our less immediate environment. We are influenced by what we see, hear, feel; and much of this is secular. It is not informed with respect for the sacred unseen realities. There are also abundant examples of godlessness. To claim there are no atheists in foxholes, on the operating tables in our hospitals, among the alumni of our schools; Or ("there but for the grace of God go I") among ex-religious is to close one's eyes to the facts. The lack of respect for God's creative co-operation in h.uman generation is widespread and appalling. There are hardened, blinded men who look on death like the fallen-away who "assured" the hos-pital chaplain: "If I die on the operating table, there will not b'e any-one to take me away." Many non-believers patronize our "naivete" in accepting the sacramental system. A Catholic mayor was openly ridiculed in the public press: "How can he be fit to manage the city goverttment when he is foolish enough to believe a little wafer is his 200 duly, 1953 THE UNSEEN WORLD God." Communists use brutal methods.to eradicate, "to wash away," a sense of the supernatural, but secularism has a smooth ap-proach that sometimes is even more effective in uprooting faith, hope, and charity. The recent ~u.rvey of religion in the United States has produced some startlin~ data. The first report that 99% of the people be-lieved in the existence of G~od was heartening, but the subsequent studies revealed the shallowness of much of this belief. Thd eighth" of the series, "What Americans Think of Heaven and Hell," reported the following statistics in the March number of the Catholic Digest. "Do you think there is any real possibility of your going to.hell? Yes, answered .I 2 %; No, 29 % : Don't know, 17 %; Do not beh.eve in hell, 42 %." In other words, 88 % of those questioned were not greatly concerned with .a truth that Christ underlined clearly, in His teaching. And this is the. environment, through the press, radio, television(?), and a thousand other contacts, we live in. The un-seen world of faith has competition. Witnesses to the Unseen The greatest Witness to the reality of the unseen world was" Christ, God2s Son, who clothed Himself with flesh and blood, a true human nature, worked miracl~s, and founded a ,visible Church to bear witness to the invisible grandeur of divine realities. He invites religious in a special way to continue to bear witness. He has invited them to prove the eternal value of.a better world to a money-mingled, sex-sick, rugged-individual generation by being poor, chaste, and obedieht as He was in the wor'ld. "But if religious are not inhabi-tants of this unseen world they will never impart the irresistible con-viction that the unseen world exists." The recent communication from a Poor Clare (REVIEW, No-vember~ 1952, 312-14) contained the eloquent witness to the un-seen world that is afforded by contemplatives. "There is an unseen world which to her (a Poor Clare) is very real. The incidents of daily lilt'are mere accidentals which are of value so far as they pur-chase for her more perfect union with God. This unseen world is as real to her as the things she can reach out and touch, and touching it she can make every action of hers prayer. I am speaking of prayer,mnot prayers," Until the unseen world is as real to us as the things we can reach out and touch, we will not convey the conviction so badly needed. 201 C. A. HERBST Reuieto for Religious, There is on~ way to make this world that real. It is by living in it. I remember a retreat master's remark on tills point. "You have to have darkness to find a picture on the sensitive plate, and you ha~e to have prayer to bring out the invisible presence of God." Again, it is ' prayer and not prayers that will enable us to live the convictions of our faith. Chari!:y C. A. Herbst, S.J. W~HEN a learned man among the Jews asked Our Lord: "Which is the great commandment in the law?" Christ answered: "Thou shalt love the' Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, andwith thy whole mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment." (Mt. 22: 37, 38). This was not new with Christ. It is the burden not only of the New but als0 of the Old Testament. written, as St. Paul says, "with the Spirit 6f the living God.in the fleshly tables of the heart" (II Cot. 3:3). The theological virtues are the greatest of all the virtues. Thdre are three of them: faith, hope, and charity. "And now there remain faith, hope, and charity, these three." Of these three, love of God' for His own sake is the queen: "But the greatest of these is charity" (I Cot. 13:13). Its object is God Himself, and our motive for loving Him,. too, is His own dear Self, "because Thou are all good and worthy of all love." "I call charity that virtue which moves the soul to love God 'for His own sake and oneself and the neighbor for God's ~ake," said St. Augustine. Charity makes all the virtues live. It is the soul even of faith, without which it is impossible to please God. "The life. of the body is the soul. By it the body moves and feels. Even so the life of faith is charity, because it works through charity, as you read in the Apostle: 'faith that worketh by charity' (Gal. 5:6). When charity grows cold, f~ith dies, just as the body does when the soul leaves it." (St. Bernard, Serrn. "2 In Resurr.) "O my God, ,I love Thee above all things." How can I truth-fully say this when I prove many times every day by committing venial sins that I love even tiny creatures more than I love God? Or why is it that I do not cry for love of God wheaa I lqse Him by mor-tal sin but I do cry when I lose my mother by death? Although ¯ 202 drain, 1953 CHARITY these actions seem to be contradicting my words "0 my God, I love Thee above all things," they, really do not. I can weep over my mother's death and commit venial sins and" still love God objectively above all things. That is, I can, and do, go on sincerely and earnest-ly wishing Him the l~reatest good, .that He will continue to be the supreme object of all love and receive divine honors. I can commit venial sins and weep over temporal ld~s and still love God above all things appreciative4 , too. by preferring God with an efficacious will to all created things, by esteeming Him as thehighest good. I can so value and esteem Him ak to be r~eady to lose all else rather than abandon God. We canndt recall too often that true love is in the will, not in the fe~!ings or ~motions. A mother's instinctive and spontaneous feelings and enfotions may draw her to love her child more ir~rensel~, with greater ease, tenderness, and alacrity, than she does God, yet she is ~eady to lose her child rather than offend God seriously. Her love for God is greater and deeper, and influences her soul more p[ofoundly. She loves God objectively and appreciatively more, and intensively and emotionally less. Thihgs of sense appeal more directly and affec-tively than spiritual things do. That in the supreme test, love for God is greater and stronger than any natural love is wonderfully shown in the death of St. Perpetua, martyr. "Neither the tears and oft-repeated prayers of her. aged father, nor the mother-love for the baby boy at her breast, nor the ferocity of her tormentors could move Perpetua from her faith in 3esus Christ." This is brought out, too. by the incidents in the daily lives of the "little people" in Christ's Church' in this living present, so well presented by Father Trese. " 'We've a good pastor,' my.people say --and I am ashamed. Ashamed as I stand beside Katie Connelly at the bed of her just-dead son, and hear her say, 'It's God's will. isn't it, Father?' while she clutches my. hand. Ashamed as I stand beside Ed Fetter at his wife's bier, and hear him say, with three little tykes hanging to his pants-legs, 'If this is what God wants,, we've got to take it, Father.' Ashamed as I ride with the Martins to the Stat~ Hospital where they are taking their son, and hear the mother say, as she bites her lip, 'Well, we've all got to have our cross, Father.' " (Leo Tress, Vessel of Clapt, 24.) Love has various degrees. - In the love of concupiscence there is something of self. I love another because I will get something out of it for myself. This is love of God for my own sake, with selfishness, 203 C. A. HERBST but a very good selfishness. This is the great virtue of hope. Then there is the love of complacency, in which I am glad and rejoice, take pleasure in, another's good, just~ because it ishis good. By it I re-joice in ~the divine perfections~ "Thus approving the good which we see in God, and rejoicing in it, we make the act of l~ve which is called complace-ncy; for we please ourselves in the divine pleasure infinitely more than in our own,' (St. Francis de Sales, Looe of God, V, i). A third and higher'degree of love is~ the love of benevolence, By it we wish another well, want good to come to him. This love we express in the Our Father when we pray: "Hallowed be Thy Name, Thy kingdom ~ome, Thy will be done!" Love consists more in deeds than in words. "If you love me, keep my commandments," Our Lord said (John 14: 15). Every-body knows that "talk is che~p,'° but actions filled with love are purest gold. A fine expression of love is a gift. That is why we give gifts on birthdays and on other joyous occasions. Gifts are the language of love. This is shown most strikingly at Christmas time. It is ~ the . feast of giving, of the Gift. Men give then because God taught them to show love that way. He gave the first Christmas Gift by giving Jesus Christ, His son. "God so loved the world, as to give his only begotten son" (John 3:16). That was Bethlehem. That was Calvary, too. "God so loved the world, as to give his only begotten son." The .lesson ChriSt taught from the crib and from the cross is the same lesson; love in deed, in giving. The soul that loves God cannot miss that. It is convinced that love consists in a mutual exchange of gifts. "What have I done for Christ? What am I doing for Christ? What ought I do for cnrlst. The answer leaps forth: "Take, O Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding~ and my whole will." One gives oneself whole and entire. We cannot do more. But we can do it more solemnly and more specifically, and we have. Religious surrender to God the goods of the world by the vow of poverty. They surrender to .God the goods of the body and of family, life by the vow of chastity. They surrender to God the goods of the soul, especially that most precious thing, their will, by ~he vow of obedience. "Almighty and Eternal God, I vow to Thee perpetual poverty: chastity, and obedience." This is our answer to the divine challenge: "Thou shalt love'the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy .whole soul, and with all thy strength, and wi'th all thy mind . This do, and thou shalt live." 204 The Moral Code Cat:holic I-lospit:als Gerald Kelly, S.J. SOME years ago there was a colorful basketball official who used to delight (and sometime~ enrage) spectators by his dramatic way of telling players, "You can't do that[" Again and again his whistle would be heard and he would be seen speeding across the floor, an accusing finger' pointed at some offending player, as his piercing voice insisted," "You can't do that!" ¯ For all too many people, I fear, this officialmminus his pleasing dramatics--might represent the Catholic hospital and its moral code. Engraven in the minds of these people is the picture Of a devoted non- Catholic physician bending over his patient in the operating or de-livery room, yearning to do something to save the patient's life, but frustrated in this salutary design by the Church, which, through the Sister superior or supervisor or chaplain, raises its restraining hand 'and says unsympathetically, "You can't do that!" Certainly much of the publicity given to v~arious events that take place in our hos-pitals caters to this impression. For example, a few years ago, in Brownsville, Texas, a physician who had sterilized a woman in defiance of the hospital code was dis-missed from the staff. The incident received nation-wide publicity in the daily'papers; and the correspondent of one widely-read weekly devoted to it considerable space and ev?n more emotion. The Sisters of Mercy had closed the doors of mercy to the doctor whose only purpose was mercy~ Follow-up letters from doctors, including one from the vice-chief'-of-staff of their hospital, favored the Sisters and showed little sympathy for the expelled physician. Other letters, however, showed marked sympathy for the doctor and for his emo-tional reporter. One letter in particular expressed great !mpatience with this.Church which insists on projecting the taboos .(a favorite epithet for commandments, divine and human) of the Dark Ages into the twentieth-century operating and delivery rooms. In this and similar incidents We have examples of the old prob-lem of misunderstanding.' The critics usually do not understand our hospital code. Even Catholics, I think, seldom realize what goes into a code. In fact, many seem to have the impression that a Cath- 205 GERALD KELLY Review fur Religious olic hospital moral code consists in ond supreme principle (which, incidentally, is "best-seller" nonsense at its best) that mothers must die fortheir babies. These people ought ko have more accurate in-formation, and it seems logical that they might expect to get it from religious because the Catholic hospital, is one of the most distinctive and extensive achievements of our religious institutes. The following paragraphs p~ovide at least the minimum essentials for giving correct information. ~ Why a Code? Since.the administrators of Catholic hospitals are men and women whose lives are consecrated to God, they can conscientiously conduct these hospitals only when they have a reasonable assurance that the law of God will be observed in the treatment of the sick. One way of obtaining this assurance is to formulate the pertinent moral prin-ciples and their applications into a code and to have the staff-members guarantee that they will observe this code. The first reason for having a code, therefore, is to satisfy the conscience of the admin-istrators. This is aptly stated in the introduction to the present code of the Catholic Hospital Association: "Catholic hospitals exist to render medical and spiritual care to the sick. The .patient adequately considered, and inclusive of his spiritual status and his claim to the helps of the Catholic religion, is the primary concern of those entrusted with the management of Catholic hospitals. Trustees and administrators of Catholic hos-pitals understand this responsibility tbwards each patient whom they accept, to be seriously binding in conscience. "A partial statement of this basic obligation is contained in the present Code of Ethical and Religious Directives. All who associate themselves with a Catholic hospital, and particularly the members of the medical and nursing staffs, must understand the moral and reli-gious obligations binding on those responsible for the management and operation of the hospital, and must realize that they are allowed to perform only such acts and to carry out only such procedures as will enable the owners and administrators to fulfill their obligations." What was .lust said might be construed as meaning that the sole or primary purpose for having a moral code is to protect administra-tor~ against doctors who might perform illicit opera.tions in their hospitals. This" is not true. Generally speaking, doctors and nurses, both Catholic and to a large extent the non-Catholics, want clear 206 July, 1953 ~ HOSPITAL CODE guidance in the ethical problems of their profession. And they want it because they are conscious of a need. As members of a. profession ithat deals constantly with life and death, with mutilation of the hu-man body, with expensive and sometimes dangerous remedies, they are faced again and again With acute ethical problems. Yet large numbers of them, even among tl~e Catholics, have never had the op-portunity of taking~a course in medical ethics. Others who have had such a course have grown "rusty" and need some convenient way of refreshing their memories. For all of these a moral code, which con-tains concisely-stated principles and practical applications to the field of medicine, satisfies a definite need. Making a Code What have our Catholi~ hospitals done to provide the needed guidance through a moral code? For many years the hospitals of the United States and Canada used a very brief ~ode which was excellent at the time it was formulated but which became more and mor~ in-adequate as the progress of medicine introduced new problems and threw new light on old ones. A new and more complete code was needed, and many dioceses prepared such a cod~ for their own use. It was not until 1947 that work was begun on a revised code for the Catholic Hospital Association of the United States and Canada. The work done by the committee on this revised code may be of interest., The committee first made a careful examinationof all the recently-composed diocesan codes, selected what seemed the best material from them. and arranged this material plus their own contributions in a manner that seemed best for handy reference. When this was done, a preliminary draft of a new code was sent for criticism to a large number of doctors and moralists in various parts of the United States and Canada. The doctors consulted included both Catholics and non-Catholics. They were chosen for eminence in their profession and not for ~hei~'religion. These consultants, doctors and moralists;: submitted criticisms some of them. very detailed---of the prelim-inary formula. The criticisms were carefully weighed by the com-mittee and a new formula was drafted. , This was referred again to the original critics; more suggestions were offered; and the code was finally formulated in a manner that met"with universal apprbval. This code was publ!shed in 1949 by the Catholic Hospital Associa-tion of the United States arid Cahada, and it is used today in most o'f the dioceses of these two countries. Some dioceses which had gone~ 207 GERALD KELLY Review [ur Religious to great trouble to prepak-e their own codes still use these in preference to the revised code of the C~tholic Hospital Association. Two observations are in place here in order to ~0revent misunder-standings. First, there is a question pertinent to revising a code: does this mean that morM principles change, or, as some people would put it, does it mean that the Church has changed its moral ~tandards? Obviously, the revision of a hospital code should have no such im-plications. Moral principles do not change: and, from the stand-point of ~principles, the only'reasons for revising an approved code might be to include some principle not beret0fore included, or to ex-press more clearly and simply one of the principles already included. But the application of moral principles to medicine can change be-cause this application depends on the medical facts, which can change with the progress of.science. For example, there was a time when the only way of successfully treating certain infections was' by surgical operation, but tod~ay many of these infections can be arrested by the use of recently-discovered drugs. A fact like this can be the basis for declaring that an operation which was permissible several years ago because necessary for the patient's welfare is no longer permissible. This is but one example of how the application of principles to con-crete cases can change. The revision of a code is largely concerned with these concrete cases. A second observation concerns ~he fact that different codes are fol-lowed in various dioceses. Does this mean that what is morally good in one place is immoral in another? Again the answer is in the nega-tive. The differences in the codes concern neither the moral prin-ciples nor the licitness of specific operations and treatments. They concern rather the selection and arrangement of materi.al, with per-haps the addition of some purely disciplinary regulation .which may be thought necessary in one place but not in another: for example, on the need of consultation before some operation is allowed. Content of Code .: At this point, if not before, someone might well ask just wh~it, is a code, and what goes into it. I can best answer this question by're-ferring specifically to the revised code of the Cat.holic Hospital As-sociation, which is entitled Ethical and Religious .Directives/~or Cath-oti~ Hospitals. As the title implies, this code contains two sections. The second section contains directives of a religious nature which concern the reception and administration of the ~acraments and the 208 dulg, 1953 HOSPITAL CODE reverent disposal of.amputated members and immature babies. For the most part, this sectibn of the code would directly concern only Catholics or those who wish to become Catholics. The first section contains ethical directives, that is, principles of the natural law with applications to medicine. Since the natural law binds all men, the provisions of this section apply to all patients, doctors, nurses, and other hospital personnel, regardless of their religion. This is really the moral code of our hospitals. My subsequent remarks app.ly to this section. Basic Principles The,baslc moral principles which are ~ formulated and applied in ¯ our ethical directive~ can be reduced to these six: (a) the .need of the / patient's consent; (b) the inviolability of innocent human life: the intrinsic.evil 'of contraceptive practices: (d) the principle~.of the "double effect"; (e) the principle of "liberty" and (f) the principle of "totality." Perhaps a few words about each of these principles will .be informative without being unduly soporific. ~) The patient's consent. Each individual human being has bqth ~the right and the duty to care for his health. When a doctor treats a patient, he is simply exercising the patient's own right of self-preservation for him, and he may not perform even legitimate operations without the consent of the patient.,. This Consent may be' given explicitly, as would be the case if an operation would be ex-plained to the patient and he ~would then agree to it. Or it may.be implicit, as would be the case if the patient asl~ed for a cure, with the understanding that he is.willingto Submit to all the necessary pro-ce. dures, even without .explanation. Or it may be reasonabtg pre-sumed, as is the case when a doctor gives emergency treatment to an unconscious man. Sound morality requires consent in one of these forms and l~oth civil law and medical associations recognize ~his. For infants and others who are incapable of acting rationally, the parents or guardians have the right to give the consent., b) The inviolabilitg of innocent human life. The meaning bf this principle is strongly and clearly explained in a memorable pas-sage of our present Holy Father's Allocution on the moral problems of married life (October 29, 195 I). This.passage Should be f~imiliar, not 0nly to religigus in hospital work, but to educators as well. "Now the.child, ~ven the unborn child," said the Pope, "is a hu-man being, a human being in .the same degree and by ~he same title as 209 ,,It GERALD KELLY Review for Religious is its mother. Moreover, every human being, even the child¯ in its mother's womb, receives its right to life directly from God, not frdm its parents, nor from any human society or authority. Therefore there is no man, no human authority, no science, no 'indication,,' whether medical, eugenical, social, economic/or moral, that can show or give a valid juridical title for a deliberate and direct disposing of an innocent human life, that is to say, for an action which aims at its destruction, whether such destruction be intended as an end or as a means towards some other end which may "itself be in no way illicit. So, for example, to save the life of the mother is a most noble end, but the direct killing of the cl~ild as a means to that end is not law-ful. The direct destruction of the 'so-called 'valueless life,' whether born or unborn, which was practised a few years ago in numerous in-stances, can in no way be justified. And therefore when this i~ractice began the Church formally declared that it is contrary to the natural law and to the positive law of God, and consequently" illicit--even under instruction from the public authority to kill those who, al: though innocent, are nevertheless by reason of some physical or-ps3;- chical taint useless to the nation and even become a burden on the ¯ community. The life of an innocent human being is inviolable, .and any direct assault or. attack on it violates one of those fundamental laws without which it is impossible for human beings to live safely in society. We have no need to teach you the particular significance of this fundamental law and its bearing upon your profession. But do not forget it: above any human law, above any 'indication' whatso-ever, there stands the indefectible law¯ of God." The Pope's words are obviously directed against doctbrs and others who think that in certain situations there are good reasons (they call them "indications") for the direct killing of an unborn child. Against these men he defends the right of the child. But he does not limit his words to the child; he defends all innocent human life. The direct (i.e., the intentional) taking of such life is never permissible. Any procedure which'would result in death for either the mother or the child (or for any other innocent person) can be justi-fied only when the death is an unintended and unavoidable by-product of the procedure. Incidentally, this principle of the inviola-bility of human life also condemns the so-called mercy-~killing (the taking of a patient's life to relieve him of suffering), whether it is done with or without the patient's consent. c) The intrinsic evil of contraception. The Church, especially in 210 July, 1953 HOSPITAL CODE the oi~cial t~aching,of the two last Popes, has'constantly branded artificial birth control as contrary to the law of nature, and therefore intrinsically evil. The most ~adical form of this evil is direct steri-lization, which means the intentional destruction of the procreative power. Doctors have many ways of accomplishing this, and all of of them.are forbidden by our code. .d) The principle oF the "'double effect.'" Students of ethics are familiar with this principle and know that it contains the solution to many of the practical,~problems of life. Conscientious people often use it without knowing it exists. The aviator who bombs an im-portant military target, foreseeing but not desiring the deaths of some civilians, is perhaps unwittingly using this principle. The student who must read a treatise on sex, foreseeing but not wanting tempta-tions against chastity, is using perhaps also unwittingly the p~inciple of the double effect. And all of us. whether we realize it or not, are following this same principle when we perform some good and neces-sary action, realizing that, despite our best intentions, certain others will misunderstand and will be'led to rash judgments and to criti-cism. The deaths of the civilians, the sexual temptations, and the harsh thoughts and criticism, are all simply unavoidable and un-wanted by-products of actions that are good in themselves and of sufficient importance to be performed despite the evil effects that at-company them. The principle of the double effect has many applications in medicine, especially as regards surgical operations on diseased repro-ductive organs with the unavoidable destruction of the procreative power and as regards treatment of a pregnant mother with some un-intentional but unavoidable risk either to herself or to her child. This last point was clearly explained by. Pope Plus XII in his Allodution to the "Family Front" (November 26, 1951): "On purpose," he said, "We have always used the expression "direct attempt on the life of an innocent person,' "direct killing.' Be-cause if, for example,-the saving of the life of the future mother, in-dependently of her pregnant state, should urgently require a surgical act or other therapeutic treatment which would~have as an accessory consequence, in no way desired or intended but inevitable, the death of the fetus, such an act could no longer be called a direct attempt on innocent life. Under these conditions the operation can be licit, like other similar medical interventions, granted always that a good of high worth is concerned, such as life, and that it is not possible to 211 GERALD KELLY Review fur Religious postpone the operation until after the birth of the child, or to 'have recourse to other efficacious remedies." e) The principle of ."libertt.t." Physicians do. not always see eye-to-eye on the value of certain treatments or operations. For ex-a.~ ple, take the much-discussed and too-much-popularized operation called Idbotomy. Thisoperation consists essentially in severing cer-tain fibers in the brain, and its general purpose seems to be to reduce emotional tension and thus help in the cure of some mental illnesses and in relieving otherwise unbearable pain. The sharpest kind of con-troversy exists among reputable physicians as to the good produced by the operation, the risks it involves, the types of patients that might benefit from it, and so forth. And this is but one example of many decidedly controversial questions in the sphere of medicine: Theologians, too, have their differences of opinion; and this is especially true when they are faced with a new problem. "There are pros and cons to many of these problems, and it may take a long time before the issues are sufficiently clarified to have a ffnanimous opinion for either side or until the teaching authority of the Church inter-venes to settle the matter. Sound morality supplies this practical principle that may be fol-lowed in these legitimately debated matters: obligations (i.e., pre-cepts and prohibitions) are not to be imposed unless they are certain. This is what I mean by the principle of "liberty." For the doctor, this means that, with the consent of the patient, he and his consult-ants may follow what they sincerely judge to be the proper medical procedure as long as this procedure is not certainly wrong. I f) The principle of "totality." I have taken this woful from Pope Pius XII, who said in his address on the moral limits of medical research a~ad treatment (September 14, 1952): "By virtue of the principle of totality, by virtue of his right to use the services of his organism as a whole, the patient can allow individual parts to be destroyed or mutilated when and to the extent~necessary for the good of his being as a whole." Obviously, this is an extremely important principle in medi'cal practice. Every time a doctor, acting according to the principles of sound medicine, and with the consent of his pa-tient, removes an eye, a hand, a gall-bladder, etc., he is following this principle of totality. He removes the member, which is a part of the whole, because it has become in some way.a threat to the survival or the well-being of the whole. 212 Jul~, 1953 HOSPITAL CODE Conclusion The foregoing are. the main, if not the only, principle~ that form the core of an~] sound medico-moral code. Perhaps I have giventhem too much space: yet it seems to me that one really appreciates our hos-pital codes only when he sees these basic principles grouped together and briefly explained. It may be taken for granted that an~ doctor who conscientiously follows these principles will act, not ~nly ac-cording to sound morality, but also according to sound medicine. Earlier in this article I suggested that in the minds of many people the supreme moral principle of Catholic hospitals seems to be that mothers must die for their babies. This, as I said, is best-seller non-sense at its best, and perhaps I should have said at its worst. Implicit in this attitude is the idea that in a critical situation a Catholic mother must always prefer her baby's life to her own. The idea is erroneous. Obviously, no mother may allow the direct taking of her life in order to save her baby, because, as Plus XlI declared, the direct destruction of any innocent life is morally wrong. And even a~ regards the risking of her life, e.g., by submitting to a dangerous operation, for thd sake of her baby, we must be very careful about making universal state-ments. We would have to consider many concrete factors before we could decide whether such a risk is obligatory or even permissible. Closely related to this erroneous notion that in our hospitals mothers must die for their babies is the idea that, since Catholic hos-pitals do not permit thereapeutic abortion (a "gentle" expression for the practice of killing babies to "save" mothers), they lose more mothers than do other hospitals. Not only is there no statistical basis for this, but what statistics we have indicate the very opposite. /~or example, two Boston doctors, Roy J. Heffernan and William "A. Lynch, recently obtained information about maternal deaths from 171 hospitals in various paris of our country. This information covers a period of eleven years, 1940-1950. In these hospitals, during this long period, there were more than ~hree million deliveries, about evenly di~iided, between hospitals that permit therapeutic abortions and hospitals that exclude this practice. The maternal death rate in the hospitals that do not allow therapeutic abortions was .87 .per thousand deli~ceries, whereas in the hospitals that do allow therapeu-tic abortion the maternal death rate was .98 per .thousand deliverles. According to these and similar statistics', the keeping of God's law saves not only babies but their mothers, as well. This is a too-littld-known aspect of the apostolate of Catholic hospitals. 213 .ues!: ons and AnSwers ~18m What can be done to counteract some Iong-sfandincj practlce, s en-gaged in during time of retreat by Sister-retreatants, for example, re-hearslng daily for one or two hours the Mass and hymns to be used ,for the reception ceremony; embroidering and crocheting between conferences2 The Sisters who participate in these works find that it interferes with thei~ recollection. ¯ Some work ab.out the house, some choir practice, and other little jobs (like needlework) would not seem to interfere ,too much with retreat recollection if indulged in only for about aft hour or so a day. That would still allow the retreatants a fair amount of time for un-disturbed private reflection an~l personal duties. If, however, the re-treat schedule were already extraordinarily crowded (which is usually not the case), there might be little time left for such tasks as indi-cated in our question. In any case, it is important that retreatants h~ve a fair amount of leisure time for private reflection, for jotting down. spirittlal "lights," for additional rest, and the like. ml9m At times it is necessary to post items pertinent to religious' in various departments of an establishment in regard to keeping rooms in order, having greater care of furniture, and the like. Would it not further a bet-ter ~om;nunity spirit if such directions were posted in the community room rather than on the doors of the different departments where outsiders may read them and make comments? Yes, it would be better to post items of a personal or private na-ture, whether they pertain to the community as a whole or to indi-vidual members of the community, in some place reserved to the reli-gious family .in preference to other more or less public places. Thus criticism might be lessened. It is possible, :though, that sometimes superiors ihtend such notices not merely nor primarily for religious who are in charge of or are working in a department, but especially for the outside help. Then such notices would be posted where those for whom they a~e intended would see them. In these cases, however, care should be taken that the wording of the notice does not occasion criticism of the religious. 214 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS In a religious congregation (in which simple vows are taken) may a ~ell-glous who is subiect fo a provincial superior have a right of appeal to the superior general when the religlous wants a farad or extra permission? To begin with, religious have the right of communicating with higher superio.rs: such correspondence is sealed. Religidus could. therefore, ask for various permissions from higher superiors. Some extraordinary permissions are usually asked of higher superiors ra~ber than of the immediate superior. Ordinary permissions, however, as a general rule are to be sought from the immediate superior. If that superior refuses the permission, one should not request the same per-mission from a higher superior without informing him that the per-mission was refused by the lower superior." Good government dic-tates that procedure, as ~ell as courtesy ahd possibly the rules of the institute. Before asking for any extra permissions or "favors," religious should remember .that superiors are to help their subjects observe common life; hence superior~ may not readily grant extra permission.s to a subject unless the Circumstances of the case warrant it. Likewise superiors must then be willing, and able, to grant the same permission to any other, subject in the same circuhastances. Subjects should try to lighten° the superior's burden' of of~ce by not requesting permis-sions which superiors should not grant either because they are not consonant with religious life, or because they would violate or harm common life, or because of some other good reason. Besides being a violation of common life, "favoritism" in a community is always odious. The cause of our Venerable Founder has been in progress at Rome for thirty years. In order to help Stimulate popular devotion to our Founderu particularly among ou~ students and their parents--our Order is in the habit of prlntlng, from time to time pictures and devotional pamphlets about him. Up to now. printed matter of that type only bore the nlhll obsfaf of the ordinary of the diocese where our motherhouse is located. It was brough~t to our attention lately that we need the approbation of the Holy See ~or an~ printed material about our Fo, under who has been de-clared Venerable. Is that observation correct? Canon 1387, of the, Code of Canon Law states that what per-tains in any way to the causes of beatification and canonization of 215. QUESTIONS ~ND ~NSWERS Servants of God may not be published without the permission of the Sacred Congregation of Rites. @his restriction applies only~to causes which are pending before the Sacred. Congregation; not to those which are finished (person b~s been canonized), or are pending be-fore some other body "than the Sacred'Congregation of Rites. During the time permission must be obtained from the Sacred Congregation, no further permission of the local ordinary is necessary for publica-tion of matter approved by the Sacred Congregation. The Codex pro Postulatoribus Causarum Beatiffcationis et Can-onizationis i4th edition, 1929, page 26, nos. 21 and 22) repeats the abo~ce and includes pictures (imagines) under the provision of can-on 1387. Several author~ who comment on canon. 1387 say that it seems to refer only t6 documents and. acts connected with the prosecution of th~ cause, such as summaries and proofs proposed for furthering the cause, opinions of consultors; comments of. the prornotor tidei, and the like. These authors rely on a Monitum of the Sacred Congrega-tion of Rites of February 12, 1909, which required previous' permis-sion of the Sacred Congregation for the publication of accounts,of the llfe, virtues, and "wonders" of Servants of God. Consequently it seems probable that the devotional pamphlets and pictures mentioned in our question need not be submitted to the Sacred Congregation for approval. m22-., Postulants are being sent out to the missions to hel'p with the teaching in schools*. They return to the motherhouse fop the week-ends. Are supe-riors justified in extending the postulancy for,three or four months, because the number of novices to be 'professed is not sufficient to fill the places of Fhe postulants? The Normae of 1901 (which have been used as a model for the constitgtions of rehgzous ,congregations) allowed a period of pos-tulancy ranging between gik--and twelve months. They permitted the superior general f~ a ~just cause to prolong the postulancy up to three additional months i~ particular cases (n. 65). A just cause was considered to exist if superiors remained uncertain about the vocation of the candidate, about his qualifications Or defects, or about his ad, justment to the life of the institute. ¯ The Code of Canon Law speaks of a postulancy of at least six entire months which must. be made by all women in religious insti- 216 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS tutes with perpetual vows and by the lay brothers in the.institutes of men. It permits the major superior ,to prolong the postulancy, but not beyond another six months (canon 539). This may be done in particular cases. The purpose of the prolongation is again to allow superiors more time to size up the applicant's vocation and more pre-cisely. his aptitude or fitnes~ for their religious institute. In the light of the above, it is rather difficult to see how superiors wbuld be justified in extending the postulancy for three or four months in the case under consideration. It might be well to add that the Apostolic Delegate has special .faculties to shorten or prolong the postulancy pre~scribed by the Code of Canon Law. Relatives of a relig;ous send money to a mutual friend with the under-standing that the religious will let that friend knowwhat he wants the friend to buy for him on the occasion of his blrfhday, Christmas, Easter, and the like. Is such procedure in keeping with poverty, or would the religious be considered as having a reserved fund of money? In the final .analysis the practice outlined' in the question reduces itself to a private fund of money at the disposal of the religious, a form of peculium generally contrary t~o the poverty professed by most. religious institutes, At best, this is contrary to cohamon life and the spirit of povert, y. A religious who countenanced such a practice could very well profit from reading Father Gallen's excellent article on "The Spirit of Poverty'" (REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, VIII .[1949], 35-43), not to me.ntion various other articles on common life arid the vow of poverty. As a practical solution, the religious could advise his relatives, who wish to give him a present, to send the money.to 'him rather than to the mutual friend. It would be understood that the reli-gious will turn in the money to his superiors to be added to the com-munity funds; then, when the religious needs something, the superior will provide it from the community funds. In that way both the vow and the spirit of poverty, as well as commott life, will be safe-guarded. A Sister acts as organist for the children's choir and for the adult choir during Mass and other services. Does canon law forbid this? A similar questi6n about a Sister organist was answered in the 217 Review ?or Religious BOOK REVIEWS pages of this REVIEW, VIII (1949), 325. Attention was called to possible diocesan regulations on the matter, even though the Code of Canon Law says nothing about it. In genera~ it seems that there would riot be much objection to a Sister acting as organist for a chil-dren's choir. In case of reai need this might also be stretched to in-clude an adult Choir of women only. But for a mixed adult choir:. "In practice,no Sister should undertake to play the organ for amixed choir of men and women without the express permission of the local ordinary and of her ownhigher superior" ibid.). / Book Reviews .~IRACLES. By Jean Hell~. Translated by Lancelot CL Sheppard. Pp. v~ -h. 288. David McKa¥ (~omp~ny, Inc., New York, 1952. $3.~0. This work is not a philosophical or tbeo16gical treatise on mir-acle. s. Rather, by a fairly detailed historical presentation of selec.ted cases, it is designed to give the reader a fairly general knowledge of, them. It is "a synthesis, or more modestly perhaps, an attempt at a synthesis" (p. 14). The whole story is built around persons, and l~eferably persons Who are not very remote from us in time. The language is not technical, but adapted to all intelligent readers. ,, The first chapter is an account of "miracles of humility": it: pre-sents the "stories of the Cur{ .of ~Ars and of Bernadette Soubi~ous; Then there follows, "Fatima, or the Age of Mary." Therese Neu-mann does not measure up to the author's standards and require-ments. But--surprisingly enough--"Catberine Emmerich, 'Narra, tot' of .the Gospels" and her writir~gs touched up by Clement Bren-tano meet with his full approval. The apparitions at Beauraing, BelgiUm, 1932-1933, are judged t6 be "childish fiction.'" Neverthe~ less' this is one of the few among recent cases that have received epis-copal approbatton. A particularly interesting feature of th~s book is the final chapter: "imitators and Fakers of Miracles." By contrast it serves especially well to bring out the great differences that obtain be-tween, genuine supernatural signs and others that are ~fraudulent, and how the pretended marvelous can be detected and distinguished from whaTt his~ a wuthhoelnet iwc.ork emphasizes the prudent reserve and critical spirb of the Church toward whatever is proposed as surpassing the limiv 218 duly, 1953 BOOK REVIEWS of nature, and tends to,bring about in the mind of the reader a simi-lar wise attitude.---AUGUSTINE G. ELLARD. ., A LIFE OF CHRIST. By Aloys Dirksen, C.PP.S. Dryden Press, New York, 1952. Pp. 340. $3.75. This book is unique in two respects: first, it has the '.'split-p~ge format." that is to say, in the upper part we find the Confraternity text of' the Gospels, and entirely separated from this section, a com-mentary on the Gospel text. One can turn the pages of the upper section without disturbing those below. Secondly, the Commentary and its Introduction are models of intelligent compression. Eight introd_uctory chapters furnish,,~i background for a better understanding of the actual commentary. These include a brief dis-cussion of the sources for a life of Christ, an outline of the geography of Palestine, a survey of the l~revious history of the Jews. the politi-cal and social conditions and prevalent religious beliefs of the period when our Lord was onearth. Such a comprehensive introduction can treat these matters only in barest outline, and if a few inaccuracies have crept in, this can readily be excused. The commentary, too, is suggestive rather thar~ exhaustive: but it is usually very much to the point. The ordinary reader will find there what he wants to know about the Gospel text he is reading. At the end of the commentary, by way of appendix, is a list of messi-anic prophecies found in the-Old Testainent. and of the Old Testa-ment quotations found in the four Gospels. Since the author uses many tec

Issue 11.5 of the Review for Religious, 1952. ; A. M. D.G. ' ' Review for Religious SEPTEMBER i5, 1952 Congress of Religious . The Editors Towards Continual Prayer . Pa.I DeJaegher Cases o~ Illegitimacy . Joseph F. Gallen ' "~ . Pius XII and Our Lady . JohnA. Hardon "Meaning" of A.M.D.G . Walter ~J. Ong Q, uesfions and Answers Book No÷ices VOLUME XI NUMBER 5 REVIEW FOR. RELIGIOUS VOLUME XI SEPTEMBER, 1952 NUMBER 5 CONTENTS CONGRESS OF RELIGIOUS~The Editors . 225 TOWARDS CONTINUAL PRAYER--Paul De Jaegher, S.J . 231 OUR CONTRIBUTORS . ¯ . 241 PRACTICAL AND PASTORAL C/(SES ON ILLEGITIMACY~ Joseph F. Gallen, S.J . " . 242 COMMUNION CARD FOR HOSPITALS . 248 COMPLETE TEXT OF SPONSA CHRIST1 IN ENGLISH . 248 LEGISLATION OF SPON,$A CHRI,~TI . 248 POPE PIUS XII AND OUR LADY---3ohn A. Hardon. S.J . 249 "A.M.D.G.": DEDICATION OR DIRECTIVE~Waher J. Ong, S.J. 257 TEN-YEAR INDEX--LIMITED SUPPLY . 264 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERSm 21. Moral Obligation of Voting . 265 22. Boundary of Novitiate . 269 23. On Reading Rodriguez . 269 24. Change in the Habit . 270. 25. Applying Indulgences to Souls in Purgatory . 270 26. Honoring'Bequests for Masses . . . '. . 270 27. Unrealizable Desires for Sanctification . 271 BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS . 272 BOOK NOTICES . 274 REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, September, 1952. Vol. XL No. 4. Published bi-monthly: January, March, May, July, September, and November at the Colleg.e Press, 606 Harrison Street, Topeka, Kansas, by Sty Mary's College, St. Marys, Kansas, with ecclesiastical approbation. Entered as second class matteb ,January 15, 1942, at the Post Office, Topeka, Kansas, under the a~t of March 3, 1879. Editorial Board: Jerome Breunig, S.J.; Augustine G. Ellard, S.J.; Adam C. Ellis, S.J.; Gerald Kelly, S.3.; Francis N. Korth, S.3. Copyright, 1952, by Adam C. Ellis, S.J. Permission is hereby granted for quota- ~ions of reasonable le.ngth; provided due credit be given this review and the author. Subscription price: 3 dollars a year; 50 cents a copy. Printed in U. S. A. Before writing to us, please consult notice on inside back cover. Congress ot: Religious The Editors ~"HE first National Congress of Religious of'the United States w.as .| held at "th~ University of Notre Dame, August 9 to 12, 1952. Three members of our editorial staff attended as delegates. At the various sessions we tried to note points that would be bf special interest to our readers: and, since it was impossible for us tobe per-sonally present at ail the different sectional, meetings, we asked many friends t~ make similar n6tes. ,The present report is made up from these notes "jottings" might be a better word. .Regarding our report, let us make two observations. First, it is not intended to be a complete a&ount of the Congress. Official Proceedings of the Congress will be published soon and will give this complete accountl ' Secondly, even as an incomplete account, our re-port is not adequate; it represents merely what a comparatively tiny number of de'legates considered point.s of spedal interest. It would .help us greatly if other delegates who read this rePort would Suppl~- ¯ ment (or~ correct, if need be) this material by sending us communi-cations containing their own impressions: And it would also ,help if any r.eaders, whether delegates or not, w, ould send their observations on the points recorded her~. This "request for commtinications r~eeds emp,hasis. The Congress opened up for discussion many vital points concerning our religious life; but because of lack of time it could do,no more than start the discussion. Readers' of this Review would do a great service to the ~ellgious life in this country if they would continue this discussion. by the frank and constructive expression of theii own observations-on these ~;ital points. Purposes of Congress " The Congress was summonedby the Sacred Congre~gfition of Religious, as a mean~ of intensifying and. strengthe.ning the religious life in the United States, of givii~g religious of all institutes an op-portunity to exchange ideas and particularly to discuss the problems ~ertaining to the adjustment of the religious life to ~onditions, pie- ¯ vailing in our land without compromising the principles on which the religious life is based. We believe that the. first purpose of.the Cbngress the intensi- ' ,225 THE EDITOP~ Review f6r, Retigious lying ~nd strengtt~ening of. our own. r~eligious life--~as. easily .the central point of the meetings andthat' ~ good start was m~de towards its accomplishment.~ C~rtainly all of us were~ inspire~d with-the de'sire of becoming better religious arid of making our" institutes more.effec-tive means in the great work of the Church. As c~n'e Sisterwho helped us p~epare?these notes put it:. "Probabl~ among the fi, nest outcomes of the First National .Congress of Religio,us of the Ufiited States will be a'faller.realization'on the.part ofeach community, whether large or ~all, of iis.actual, p~iticipation and impqrtance.in i~he Mystical -Body. of ~hrist; a deeper feeling of p~rspnal love for our Holy Father' and an appreciation Of his interest in our spiritual and temporal well- .,being; an~under.standila~g of the ,eagerness,. of the members 6f the Sacred Congregation of Religiou~ to serve our need~s and tO assist us to b~come holy, saintly' religious; and finally, a cloker bond among th( religious communities'of the United States, with e~ich ~roup cor~: scious of its imp6rtance to the good of the whole 'and, ready to assist in furthering the 'apostolic endeavors of every, other institute:" ¯ The other purposeF-~-the ekchange of ideas and the consideration of nece~sary adjustment~--also received their due attention" at both the scheduled sessiofis and the informal meetings of smaller groupL The on.e flaw in the plaorfing of the Congress, if there was 0ily fl~w,. was that there were so many.papers that the.re was not sufficient time for discussion°fr0m the floi3r. Nevertheless, a fine beginning was made, and w,e hope that what was begun at Notre Dame can be car- ¯ tied on much further in' the discussi6ns in this R~view and in smaller meetings that can be arranged from time ~o time. . Organization .The Sacred Congregation of." Rhligioussent. f~ur representatives to theCongress: .The Most Reverend Atcadio LarraonL C.MIF., Secretary of the Congregation: the Very Reverend Giuseppe\Gi.am- ~pietro, S.J., the assistant to Father Larraona i~ the organization of regional "meetings of religious; the .Very Reverend Elio Gambari, S.M.M'., .whose specihl duty is-to handlethe affairs of refigious :in the United States; and the ~i~y Re;gerend Edward 'L. Heston, C.S.C:, the Secretary G~ner~l for, the Congress in the United States. ¯ The Congress was divided into two sections, for religious n~dn and religious women respective.ly. The Very-P(everend John ~J. Cavanaugh, C.S.C., who was President of the University of Notre .Dame atthe time the C6ngress was.plhnned, wasHonora.ry~Chair- 226 ~September, 1952 , (~ONGRESS OF RELI,.GIOUS manfor both groups. Executiye Chairman for Religious Men was. the "Very Reverend FranCis J.Connell, C.SS.R.; and for Religious W~men, the_Reverend Mother Mary. Gerald Barry,. O.P., the Supe-rior, General 6f the.Domlnican Sisters of Adrian; Michigan. Co- - ordinato.r of the. Congress'was the Re~'e~end Alfred F: .Mendez. C.S.C. The work done by Fathers Connell and Mendez and Mother " Mary Geriild in preparing for th~ Congress "was little shdrt of miraculous. They had only al~out three months tb make their pre-parati6ns, yet every detail, both Of the preparations and Of the'actual carrying out of the"Congre.ss,: was S~l~erbfy:planned and executed. As one small sample.migh~ l~e instanced the plans for daily Masses: there, were seven hur~dred Masses.each day; yet there was not the 'slightest -c~nfusion or difficulty in getting, iri ~he Masses. ~ ¯ Other members of the Committee for the sectlon of Rehgmus ¯Men were: theVery Rev~:end Godf.rey Diekmann, O.S.B.; the Very Reverend Philip F. Mulhern, O.P.: the,.Very Reverend'Thomas .~. Plas'smann, O.F.M.: the Ve~y Reverend Adam C. Ellis, "S.J.: the Very Reverend Basil Frison, C.M.F.; Venerable Brother Alexis Vic-.- tor, F.S~C.; Venerable Brother Ephrern O'Dwyer, C.S.C.; Vener-able Brother William, ~.F.X. O~her members of the committee .for Religious Women were: the Re~,erend .Mother M. Catherine Sullivan, D.C.: the Reverend'. Mother-M. Rose Elizabeth, C.S.C." the Reverend Mother M. li~n, C.S.J.; the Reverend 'Mother M. Joan 0t: Arc Cronin, O.S.U. the Reverend. Mot'her Mari~Helene,. S.P.: and Sister M. Madeleva.;" Spiritual Ideals In one wa.y'or anothe'r many. of the discussions at the C~ngr~ss centered on the clarification of the spiritual ideals common to reli-gious. ins~itfltes and on the .means. of¯ attaining these ideals., Particu-larly stressed was.~he fact that religious.need a deep pers'orial devo~ tion to Christ. Basic to such a devotion is the knowledge of.Christ; iand the young r~llg~ous must be.helped ~o get th~s knowledge, partly through Well-planned reading, and~mostly through prayer--for it is ~i knowledge.of the heart, and it is given by the Holy Ghost to ~hose " who humbly and perse~'erifigly seek it. ¯The fervent-reception of. Holy Communion-is a great help to.the atta!ning of this interior -knowledge and devotion. Incidentally, in. the men:s discussion 6f this tiepin, it was poin~e~, out that here, as i~ Other aspec~so,of their religious training, youri~ religious are inspired.by the goqd example ¯ 227 THE EDITOR,S " Review/:or Religigus of thei~ elders-and are proportib.nate!y harmed by thelack of such example. Several discussions also emphasized the need of a sense of per, sor~al responsibility. For. instance, one danger oK the religious life, with its many exercises in common, is .what migl~t be called "~herd-spirituality": one goes to the exercise automatically and takes.part with a sort, of detached numbness, ,as though ¯partially anesthetized. The chief wa~ to counteract this is the constant striving on the part of the individual to make the exercls~ personal. Also, some religious who lead an active aposl~olate, especially in small houses, .are fre-quently unable to have common exercises. They can lose the rell-gious spirit completely Unless through their own personal efforts they try to form a plan for making their various spiritual exercises in private. " The same idea of personal responsibility, under the formality of per_sonal initiative, was prominent in the men's discussion of religious obedience. It was pointed out,that apostolic initiative is n6t stifled by obedience, though it must often be controlled for the common good, as well as for the good of the individual. The rel, igious who always waits to be told what to do. is by no. means the model of perfect obedience, and the superior who requires this of his subjects is by no,means the perf.ect superior. , In a paper t, bat all will read With interest and profit, the Very Reverend Giles Staab, O.F.M.C~'p., reduced the moral qualifications of candida.tes to the religious life to the)four virtues of generosity, docility, prudence,~and loyalty. The generous candidate will¯have the r~quisite piety, the fight intention,' the chastity, and the zeal. The docile candidate will be obedient and thus further the Work of the i.nstitute. The prudent candidate will have good jiadgment and emotional control. And ~he candidat~ imbued with a spirit Of loya[t~t.will, be ready to subordinate his own interests to thqse of the community and will, as a natural consequence, b~e a, gobd communi@ man: a religious withsocial 'balanch, cgurtesy, and considerateness." Conte~ptative Life The .Right Reverend Abbot M. James Fox, O.C.S.O., gave' an interesting and informative talk about the contemplative life in gen-eral and the Trappists' life inparticular. He said that there is.a great hunger for thec0ntemplative life in modern America, . and he illustrated this statement.by quotin~ excerpts from man'y letters'that h'e has received from applicants to the' Trappi~ts. The Trappists,., 228 " ' v Sep~ei'hber~ 1952.- " CONGRESS OF RELIGIOUS he said, have about ~700' novices in their varigus" houses ~throu.ghmit the world';" ,approximately half:of these novices ,are, in the' United State~.'In less than ten years the" Trappist monasteries in 'this country have increased from three' to ten.," °, "'- .~, Why the attraction to "contemplative orders?.+. At one of Sisters' sessions it was suggested that yout.h are attracted to the co.n= templative life because they,feel that in this life they can

Issue 10.2 of the Review for Religious, 1951. ; ~:~ - ~, A.M. D, G., ~ Reiciew for Religious St. Jos~ph;s Patronage . Francis L Filas ' Dominican Spirffuality . .~ Regknald Hughes Ten÷afive Tes¢incj ~ P¢ogram . Sister M. Digna, Peace . : . Winfrld Herbst Why Do They Leave.'! . ; . . . Anonymou,s ~uesfions and Answsrs Book Reviews ¢ Summer Sessions Communications VOLUME X NUMbeR~ 2 RI::VII:W FOR RI::LIGIOUS VOLUME X MARCH,, 1951 NUMBER 2 CONTENTS ST. JOSEPH'S PATRONAGE--Francis L Filas, S.J .5.7 THE FAMILY FOR FAMILIES . 66 THE ASSUMPTION . 66 OUR CONTRIBUTORS . , . 66 DOMINICAN SPIRITUALITY--Very Rev. Reginald Hugl~es, O.P. 67 FRANCES SCHERVIER CAUSE ADVANCES .7.4. : TENTATIVE TESTING pROGRAM-~Sister M. Digna, 'O.S.B. 75 PEACE--WINFRID HERBST, S.D.S . 81 WHY DO THEY LEAVE?--Anony.mous . 84 BOOK REVIEWS-- Catholic Social P,rinciples; The Nun~.at her Prie-Dieu; Recruiting for , Christ; .Patrology ; Religious Sisters .~ . ' . 93 BOOK NOTICES . . 101 BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS . ;.~. . 102 COMMUNICATIONS ° 104 ' QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS-- 7. Term of Office for Local Superior . 8. Obligation to Sick Religious under Temporary Vows . 106 9. Letter to Local Ordinary . 107 I0. General Chapte~ and Change in Constitutions " 108 11. Attwater on Apgstoli ~ndulgence . 108 12. Indulgence for Reeling Rosary . 109 13. Vote on Clerical Religious before Major Orders .109 14. Vows Reserved to the Holy See . 1 I0 SUMMER SESSIONS . 111 REPRINTS : SINGLE SETS . 112 REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS,~ March, 1951, Vol. X, No. 2. Published bi-monthly : January, March, May, July, September, and November at the College Press," 606 Harrison Street, Topeka, Kansas, by St. Mary's College, St. Marys, Kansas, with ecclesiastical approbation. Entered as second class matter January 15, 1942, at the Post Office, Topeka. Kansas, under the act of March 3, 1879. Editorial Board: Adam C. Ellis, S.J., G. Augustine Ellard, S.I., Gerald Kelly, S.J. Editorial Secretary: ,Jerome Breunig, S. 3. Copyright, 1951, by Adam C. Ellis, S.J. Permission is hereby granted for quota-tions of reasonable length, proyided due credit be given this review and the author. Subscription price: 2 dollars a rear. Printed in U. S. A. Before writing to us, pleese consult notice on inside back'cover. S!:. Joseph's Patronage Francis L. Filas, S.J, ST. JOSEPH'S closeness tO Jesus and Mary gives him~a'degree of dignity and holiness which it is hard to understand. 'However, if we consider his position as Patron of the Universal Cl~urch, we can grasp to some extent the exalted rank God has given him. By studying the greatness of the patronage, we learn the greatness of the patron. , Like every pa.,tron saint, 5oseph receives from God a quasi-right to protect his clients. This precise relation of .patron "saint to client is difficult to express in our language, but the" fact is certain. The patron is like a father toward his charge, and a s~rong note of fatherly love characterizes his watchful care. The Communion of Saints is the bond that unites the Church Triumphant with the Church Militant and the Church Suffering. Due to this bond God grants the saints in heaven a special interces-sory power so that.by their prayers they can further the spiritual and temporal interegts of their brethren on earth. They invoke the merits they gained during their tim~ 6f pilgrimage, and by an act of suppli-cation they present to God~'t'bei}~requests for~th~ir clients, In this we rightly discern a manifestation of:the all-eml~ra~ing love which'Chrlst desires to flourish in His Church. ':'* Individual saints can freely be chosen as~patrons by anyone. In the case of some, however, it is fitt,ng that,~ttiey spec,ally watch over particular groups of people or types of~enterprises. Ordinarily, this fitness exists because of a circumstance df the saints' lives or some providential direction of their energies and prayers. Thus, the patrons' interests are more specific.ally those of ,their clients. Papal Pronouncements on Reason for St. Joseph's Patronage In the case of St. Joseph his patronage is the logical extension of his duties on earth. Although he was officially declared Patron of the Universal Church by Plus IX in 1870, Pius did not actually create him as such. The Pope. proclaimed what had already been a reality. St. Joseph's office as Patron of the Ufiiversal Church, a~ well as the dignity belonging to this title, was a corollary of the office and the dignity whichGod bestowed on him in making Joseph the head of the Holy Family. Reoieto for Religio,,s The decree of Pius IX makes this clear. "'Because of this sublime dignity which God conferred on His most faithful servant, the Church has always most highly honored and praised Blessed Joseph next to his spouse, the Virgin Mother of God, and has besought his intercessiob in times of trouble . Plus IX has therefore declared St. J~oseph~ Patron of the Universal Church.''1 The same termi-nology of "declaring" the Saint's patronage occurs in the Pope's decree of 1871.2 Even more detailed is Quamquam Pturies, the encyclical of Leo XIII concerning devotion to St. Joseph. "There are special reasons," Leo says, "why Blessed Joseph should be explicitly named the Patron of the Church, and why the Church in turn should expect much frdm his patronage and, guardianship. For he indeed was the husband of Mary, and the father, as was supposed, of Jesus Christ. From this arise all his dignity, grace, holiness and glory . "The divine h~usehold which Joseph governed as with paternal authority contained the beginnings of the new Church. The Virgin most holy is the mother of all Christians, since she is the mother of Jesus and since she gave birth to them on the mount of Calvary amid the indescribable sufferings of the Redeemer. Jesus is, as it were, the firstborn of Christians, who are His brothers by adoption and redemption. "From these cor~siderations we conclude that the Blessed'Patriarch must regard all the multitude of Christians who constitute the Church as confided to hih care in a certain special manner. This is his numberless family scattered throughout all lands, over which he rules with a sort of.paterr~hl" authority, because he is the husband of Mary and the father of J~sus Christ. Thus, it is conformable to rea- .~on and in every way becoming to Blessed Joseph that as once it was his sacred trust to guard with watchful care the family of Nazareth, no matter what befell, so now by virtue of his heavenly patronage he is in turn to protect and to defend the Church of Christ.''s The Recognition of St. Joseph's Patronage Its Historq This modern concept of Joseph's patronage lay hidden and unnoticed for centuries. Probably the first writer to call attention to it was John Gerson, the chancellor of the University of Paris. Gerson proposed St. Joseph's. guardianship of the Church in a set-lPius IX, Quemadmodum Deus, ASS 6, 193. ZPius IX, lnclgturn Patriarcbam, ASS 6, 324. SLeo XIII, Quamquam Pluries, ASS 22, 65.' 58 March, 19 51 ST. JOSEPH'S PATRONAGE mon to the. members of the Council of Constance, September 8, I 416. °The sermon had as its purpose the adoption of a feast of the espousal of Joseph and Mary. With deep anxiety the chancellor noted the disastrous results of the great Western Schism of 1378, a wound to the Church which was still unhealed. Gerson asked for al3proval of the feast of the espousal "in order that through the meri~ of Mary and through the intercession of so. great, so powerful, and in h certain way so omnipotent an intercessor with his bride., the Church might be led to her only true and safe lord, the supreme pastor, her spouse in place of Christ.''4 The suggestion made by Gerson was not acted upon, but once it had been put forth, the idea continued to recur to others. What really began to receive marked emphasis was JoSeph's part as guardian of the. Holy Family. This contained in germ the concept of Joseph's further guardianship of Christ's Churqh. It was next elaborated in the Summa of the Gifts of St. Joseph, a Latin book written by a Dominican, Isidore de :Isolani, in 1522. While depicting the exceptional honors he felt sure would be granted the saint, Isidore heralded the future with this prophecy: "For the honor of His name: God has chosen St. Joseph as head and special patron of the Church Militant.'.'~ The theme, of St. Joseph's guidanc~ of the Holy Family and of-the Church continued to run tl~kough the devoii3n~'as it flourished up to the middle of the eighteenth century. H~re, in.common with the temporal fortunes of the Church, it suffered a rela13se; but with the reign of Pius IX, a hundred years later, it. aggin surged forward. During the 1860's, various petitions'from bishops, priests, and the faithful were sent to the'Holy See, *asking for St. Joseph's full glorification in the liturgy and for the declaration of his patronage of the 13niversal Church. Three special, petitions were presented to the Vatican Council i.n 1869-70. ,It seems that these three were the petitions which immediately led Pius IX to make his declaration on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception in 1870.6 St. Joseph as Patriarch ~ Closely related to Joseph's title of Patron of the Universal Church is his title of Patriarch. Ordinarily, the name. "patriarch" is reserved for a man who is the father of numerous descendants. The patriarchs 4John Gerson, Sermon of September 8, 1416, Conclusion; Summa Josephina, 213. 5Isidore de Isolani, Summa de donis S. loseph, III, 8. ~For historical details, cf. Film, The Man Nearest to Christ, oh. 9, 10. 59 FRANCIS L. FILAS Review for Religious of the Old Testament deserve the title not only because of their ven-erable fatherhood, but also (in a spiritual sense) because of the Mes-sias who was to be born of their line. They were literally "patri-archs. in preparation," in view of God's promise of the Savior who was to spring from the Jewish people. St. Joseph was truly the greatest of the patriarchs, understanding the term in this spiritual meaning. Our Lord took human nature of the virginal wife of Joseph, and in this fashion the saint exercised the rights.~of father over Him whose spiritual posterity would embrace all the elect. Leo XIII explains how Joseph's. position as patriarch is linked with his offke as patron. "Conformably with the Church's sacred liturgy," the Pope writes in his encyclical on St. Joseph, "the opinion has been held by not a few Fathers of the Church that the ancient Joseph, son of the Patriarch Jaco.b,foreshadowed both in person and in office our own St. Joseph. By his glory he was a prototype of the grandeur of the future' guardian of the Holy Family. In addition to the circumstances that both men bore the same name--a name by" no means devoid of si~nificance-~'it is well known to you that they resembled each other very closely in other respects as well. "Notable in this regard are the facts that the earlier Joseph re-ceived spec!al favor and b~nevolence from his lord, and that when placed by him as ruler over his houkehold, fortune and prosperity abundantly accrued tO the master's house because of Joseph . Thus, in that ancient patriarch we may recognize the distinct image of St. Joseph. As trio. one was prosperous and successful in the domestic concerns of. his lord, and in an exceptional manner was set forth over his whoIe kingdom, so the other, destined to guard the name of Christ, could well be chosen to defend and to protect the Church, which is truly the house of God and the kingdom of God on earth.''~ ¯ . In the e.arly 1700's the Holy See was considering the re-insertion of Joseph's name into the Litany of the Saints,. from which he seems to have been dropped at some earlier date. In the study of this ques-tion, Cardinal Lambertini (the future Benedict XIV) published a st~orig defe'nce of Joseph's position as patriarch. He wrote, ~ '"That St. Joseph can be called Patriarch is proved from the fact that the patriarchs, according to the holy Fathers and both ancient ~nd more recent writers, were those who were the progenitors of the ;Leo XIII, Quarnquara Pluries. 6O .March, 1951 ST. JOSEPH'S PATRONAGE families of the Chosen People. Since, therefore, St. Joseph was the putati~'e father of Christ our Lord, He who is the head of the pre-destined and the elect, the name of patriarch is for this reason rightly and deservedly attributed to St. Joseph, and by- this very name is he a,ddressed by most writers. "St. Joseph was not the natural father of Christ our~L-ord and did not generate Him, but this alone can prove that he was not the father of the faithful by natural generation, as. were the other patri-archs. It doesnot hinder him from being patriarch in a more perfect and more exalted manner according to the "explanation we have already giyen.''s The Di~nitq and Ef~cacy .'of St. Joseph's Patrohaqe Joseph's dignity both as Patriarch and as Patron of the Church is most exalted, for these two titles recognize in,him ar~ excellence that is absent in other men. The wider the extent of his patronage, so much the wider must be its dignity; and since Joseph's patronage is concerned wiLh the entire Church, he is, reverenced to a degree that is subordinate only to the honor given Mary. The sterling worth of the saint's office is also measured by the perfection on which it is based. Because he ~cted ast the father of Jesus, his patronage is an extension of his office oia earth. Yet, his role as patroh is not based merely on. a certain fittingness, as is the case of other saints. Instead, his God-g!ven titles of husb~and of Mary and father of Jesus directly place ~the interests of Christ's Church close to his heart. All this has b~en solemnly con.firme.d by ,official papal decree. The power of Joseph's intercession appears from his holiness, from his virginal fatherhood, and from his relationship to our Lady-. We know that the effi.cacy of a saint's intercession depends in general on his love of God and on his glory in heaven. The higher a soul exists in glory, by so much is he more acceptable to Ggd. Joseph's holiness and glory are considered second only to the holiness and glory of our Lady. Again with the sole exception of Mary, no one except St. Joseph ever had a quasi-authoritative position over Christ. No other saint shared that intimacy with the blessed Mediatrix of all graces which only Mary's virginal husband possessed. This gives Joseph a tre-mendous intercessory power which the Church has officially reco~- SBenedict XIV, De Beatif. Serv. Dei et Canon, Beat. I. 4, p. 2, c, 20; n. 57. 61 FRANCIS L. FILAS nized. Among other indicative actions it has approved and indul-genced a Memorare in imitation of the same type of prayer addressed to Mary: "Remember O most pure spouse of the Virgin Mary, St. Joseph, my beloved pat~ron, that never has it been heath that anyone invoked thy patronage and sought thy aid without being comforted. Inspired by this confidence, I come to thee and fervently commend myself to thee. O, despise not my petition, dear foster father of our Redeemer, but accep.t i~. graciously. Amen.''9 The Univ~rsatitg of St. Joseph's Patronage It would appear that Joseph's patronage as understood in its full extent embraces all those who owe their.salvation to the redemptive work of Jesus and to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin. The reason is clear. Joseph was chbsen to be virginal father and virginal husband in order that the redemptive work of our Lord in co-operation with Mary might be accomplished. Hence, the saint's guardianship (which is the outgrowth of his protection of Jesus and our Lady) logically embraces all who participate in the fruits of the Redemption. Meditative consideration of the full meaning of Joseph's title "reveals still further consequences in another direction. Since the saint is patron of the whole Church, his interests must be more universal than those of othe~ sa.ints. Other patrons concern themselves with one group of persons; Joseph is patron of all. Resultantly,.writers have amplified his title so that they describe him as universal patron because Patron of the Universal Church. In other words, he is the patron of everyone in every class. Because he was a member of an impoverished family of kings, the story of his life heartens all who suffer financial reverses. Earning his livelihood and supporting his holy charges at the carpenter's bench, he fittingly leads all who work for a living. In his actions we discover a guiding principle that can often hold true for every employer. He can look to Joseph, who, while supe-rior in authority, recognized that he was inferior in dignity and used his authority with the utmost moderation and prudence. Thus, while on the one hand St. Joseph inspires employers to provide just wages and healthful working conditions, on the other hand his example reminds employees to return fair and industrious service for °Indulg. 500 days, S. P. Ap., Jan. 20, 1933; Encbirid. Indulg. (1950), n. 472. 62 March, 1951 ST, JoSEPH'S PATRONAGE wages received. , ¯ . . Against the purveyors ofthe false ide.ologies of our day, Joseph stands out as the antithesis of racial prejudice and international ha-tred. Himself a Jew, he suffered because of the political dreams of a monarch '~ho was mad for power at any cost. Welcoming the for-eign Magi and then living in exile in a not too friencl, ly land, he knew the distress caused by prejudice against color and against race, Joseph's pIace as father in the Holy Family shows a11 fathers how steadfastly they must strive to imitate him in cherishing and educating their children. No husband can ever offer his wife a degree of fidelity and self'sacrifice great.er than thatwhich Joseph offered our Lady.' Hence, in him we behold the worthy patron of the Chris, tian family. As head bf Nazareth, the first Christian religious community, he exemplifies' the ideal religious superidr~ the serv'ant of the servants of God. Simultaneously his absolute and unquesti6ning obedience to the messengers of God mark him dut as the mbd~l foe priests and religious.' When ~he end comes to his iS~riod of. service Joseph di~s in the presehce of Jesus and Mary and is made the.gr.and protecto~ at the hour of death--the friend who le~ds departing souls peacefully to their Judge. " ' In our own age st. Joseph's patror;age'of labbr has been particu-larly emphasized~ Closely coupled with thi~ '~mphasis was the new honor grfinted him in 1937 by Plus XI. 'At ~hat tlm~ '£he Pope dec!.ared him the patron of the Church's campaign again.st atheistic communism, for"he ~belgngs to the work~ing-clas~, and he bor~ th~ burdens of i~6verty for himself and the Holy Family, whose tender and vigilant hea'd he was.''~° Universal Patron--Papal Pronouncements ¯ We possess sound Church authority for, claiming St. Joseph as the universal patron of the Church. The encyclical, of.Leo XIII, after tracing the saint's present office to his earlier,vocation on earth, continues, "This is the reason why the faithful of al! places and con-ditions commend and confide themselves to the guardianship of Blessed Joseph. In Joseph fathers of families have an eminent model of patern~l care.and providence. Married couples' find in him the perfec.t image, 6f love., harmony, and conjugal loyalty. Virgins can look to him for their pattern and as the guardian of virginal integ-rity. " " ¯ ~0Pius XI, Dioini Redemptoris, AAS 29, 106. FRANCIS L. FILAS Review for Religious '"With the picture of Joseph set before them, those of noble lineage can learn to preserve their dignity even under adverse circtim-stances. Let the wealt,hy understand what goods they should chiefly seek and earnestly amass, while with no less special right the needy, the In, borers, and all possessed of merely modest means should fly to his protection and learn to imitate him.''11 The Pope's.Briet~ on the Holy Family is entirely devoted to the subject of family life, placing Joseph with Mary and Jesus as a family exemplar.12 In the words of Benedict XV, "Since Joseph (whose death took place in the presence of Jesus and Mary) is justly regarded as the most efficacious protector of the dying, it is our purpose here to lay a special injunction on Our Venerable Brethren that they assist in every possible manner those pious associations.which have been insti-tuted to obtain the intercession of St. Joseph for the dying.''1~ The Litany of St. Joseph The shortest official summary of the Saint's patronage is found in the Litany of St. Joseph, approved by Plus X in 1909. This Litany expands; as it were, Leo XlII's earlier catalogue of.Joseph's clients --"all the faithful of all places and conditions." The action of Plus X in sanctioning the Litany of St. Joseph for use in public services gave Josei~h one of his most exclusive honors. Only four other litanies have been granted this rare and signal approval: the Litanies of the Sacred Heart and of the Holy Name of Jesus, the Blessed Virgin!s Litany of Loreto, and the Litany of the Saints (with its" two' adaptations for Holy Saturday and the Vigil of Pentecost, and for the commendation of a departing soul). The use of a litany as a form of prayer dates from the very earli-est days of the Church. The word itself comes from the Greek term, lissamai, "I pray," Probably Psalm 135 is the prototype on which the first Christians modeled their primitive litanies: "Praise the Lo~rd, for He is good; for His mercy endureth forever." Here, after every statement of the Psalmist, the phrase is repeated, "for His mercy endureth forever." This repetition of the same prayer has passed over into our mod-ern litanies. When addressing God we beg, "Have mercy on us"; when petitioning a saint's intercession, we say, "Pray for us." In. this manner, God or our Lady (and in the present instance, St. Jo-l~- Leo XIII, Quaraquam Pturies. 12Leo XIII, Neminem Fugit, Decr. No. 3777, CSR. l:~Benedict XV, Bonura Sane, AAS 12, 313. 64 Ma~h, 1951 ST. JOsEPH'S PATRONAGE seph) can be honored under different titles but always with the same petition. There is. a very interesting feature about the Litany of St. Jo-seph. Unlike the older litanies which spontaneously grew out of separate and more or less unrelated invocations this Litaoy was com-posed according to a rigid grouping. Seven tides depict the role that Joseph played on earth: Two concern his royal ancestry in preparation for the Messias: "'Illustrio~ts descendant of David"; "'Light of patriarchs"; Two, his relationship to Mary: "'Spouse of the Mother of God"; "'Chaste guardian of the Virgin"; Two, his relationship to Jesus: "'Foster father of the Son of God';; ¯ ' "'Watchful defender of Christ"; and finally, one' title as "'Head of the Hotg Famitg."" In the second group of invocations, six llst Joseph's special vir-tues: justice, chastity, prudence, valour, obedience, and faith. In the final division of eleven titles, four address him as ex-emplar: "'Mirror of patience"; . "'Lover of povert~t"; ~.,. "'Model of workmen"; "'Ornament of familg life"; and seven invoke him as a protecting patron: "'Guardian of Virgins"; "'Safeguard of families"; "'Consolation of the poor"; "'Hope of the sick"; "'Patron of the dgin9"; "'Terror of demons"; and "'Protector of Holg Church." For the final word on the patronage of St. Joseph, probably no tribute to the saint's widespread and powerful friendship will ever surpass the words of St. Teresa of Avila, long become classic: "It seems that to 'other saints our Lord has given power to help 65 FRANCIS L. FILAS:" " us.in only one kind'of: necessity; but this glorious saint, I know by my own experience, assists us in all kinds of necessities . I only request, for the love bf God., that. whoever will not belie~ve me will test the truth of what I say, forhe will see by experience how great a blessing it is to'recommend oneself to this glorious Patriarch and to be devout to him . Whoever wants a rnas~ei to instruct him how to pray, let him chobse tl~is glorious saint for his guide, and he will hot lose his way:''14 " ' THE FAMILY FOR FAMILIES One of the first of.the Catholic pocketbooks (50 centsL to be issued by the Lumen Books (P.O. Box 3386, Chicago 54, I11.) is a reprint of The Family for Families, by Francis L. Filas, S.J. In this behind-the-scenes story of the Holy Fam-ily at home Father F, ilhs, a'Ibioneer in the Cana Conference movement in the De-troit area. shows mode~;n husbands,and ~vives how they can share the happiness.and inspiration of the Nazareth home. Father Filas, also the author of Tbe Man Near-est Christ, is giving a cours,e at .Loyola University, Chica.go, on the theology of St. Joseph (cf.p.age 111)' " ¯ ; THE ASSUMPTION Pope Pius xII, on Octob'e~- 31, 1950, in connection with the formal definition, decreed that the invocation, Qr}een assumed into hedven, ¯should be added to the Litany of Loretto after the iti:cocation "Queen concei~d without original sin." He also approved a new Mass which is to replace the Mass formerly said on the Feast of the Assumption. . , . . ¯ our cONTRIBUTORS REGINALD HUGHES is .pr!or at S't. Peter Martyr Priory, Winona, Minnesota, and professor of philosophy] and religion at the College.of St. Teresa. WINFRID HERBST, author and retrea.t master, is on the faculty of the Salvatorian Seminary, St. Nazianz, Wisconsin. SISYER M. DIGNA is professor"of psychology at the Col-lege of' St. Schq~astica,, Duluth, Minesota. FRANCIS .L. ,FII~A$, the author of The Man Nearest Christ, is teach, lug at Loyola University, Ch!cago. Illinois. ¯ 14T~resa of Avila, Autobiooraphg, c. 6, n. 1 1. 66 Dominican Spirit:u lit:y Reginald Hughes, O.Po, UST beca'use they were men, the Apostles differed in tempera-ment and char.acter, peter was impetuous and quick; Paul, fi~ery and brilliant; John, loving and gentle. More than this, they were entrusted with distinct missions. Hence 'we cannot be 'surprised that the founders of religious orders, those wh6 took the apostolic band as their inspiration, manifested distinctive character-istics. St. Benedict consecrated his sons in a special way to the choral recitation of the Divine Office. The childreh of St. Francis find the secret of their spiritual Father in his seraphic poverty. St. Ignatius instituted a militia which united prudence and versatility to zeal for God's greater glory. St. Dominic was inspired to form an order of preachers and teac~hers, a closely knit organization dedicated to the diffusion of Divine '.Truth. ¯ Our Lord Himself revealed this .fact to St. Catherine of Siena when He told her: '~'Thy Father, Dominic, desired that his brethren have no other thought than the salvation of souls by the light of knowledge. It is this light that ~he wished to make tl~e principal object of his. order, to extirpate the errors existing in his day." Truth, then, contemplated and preached, is the ideal of the Order of St.Dominic. How faithful the early disciples of Dominic were to'this ideal We learn from the Vicars of Christ. In 1216, Pope Honorius III approved them as "champions of. the Faith and l!ghts of the world." POpe Alexander IV recommended them in 1257 as "men steeped in the divine science, powerf.ul preachers." In 1266, Pope Clement IV could laud their order as the "Guardian of T;uth." Not only that, but these decades, penetrated with the spirit of Dominic himself, produced in his order the friar who became the incarnation in his life and w~rks of the idefil which his'spiritual Father had envisaged. "See the glorious Thomas. Wldat a none intelligence, wholly applied to the contemplation of my Truth. There he found supernatural and infused knowledge, and this grace he obtained more by his prayers than by study." It would seem obvious that an investigation of the principles of Dominican life and spirituality would fittingly begin with an inter- 67 REGINALD HUGHES Review/or Religious rogation of the Angelic Doctor and his writings. Therein must be found those cardinal principles which have inspired the spiritual children of Domin'ic Guzman for more than seventy decades; We shall not be disapl~ointed in our search if we turn to the Summa Theologica, Thomas' masterpiece of Christian thinking. As a primary and fundamental principle Thomas would seem to advocate the fullest development of one's natural faculties. God has created us for His honor and glory, and to help us fulfill this mission He has endowed us with wonderful natural powers and properties: a spiritual soul, with an intellect, will, imagination and memory; a b.ody, with the physical ability of achievi.ng our earthly destiny. Each one of these gifts of Almighty God has within itself the capability of being developed to a certain degree of perfection that we call natural. Our duty is to develop all these natural powers, however not of ourselves nor for ourselves, but with God and for God alone. He has given us all that we have of goodness; He alone preserves us in the very existence we enjoy. The realization of this principle is witnessed in a grand phalanx of preachers,.: theologians, scripture scholars, canon lawyers, mystics, ascetics, philosophers, s~ientists, medical doctors, historians, painters, sculptors, miniaturists, architects, artists, engineers, litterateurs, poets, and simple, humble souls who have taken their inspiration from St. Dominic and placedtheir own distinctive mite and talents where they might best serve God's glory. But Thomas would remind us, when we have discovered all that nature in its very perfection can do, we must realize that it is as nothing in comparison, with the life of grace, the supernatural life of the soul, to which life God has raised us. This supernatural order surpasses the powers and exigencies of every created nature---even that of the most perfect angel. God could keep on creating angels more and more.perfect, yet never by their natural powers alone could they attain to the least degree of grace, There is simply no compari-son between created natur.e, actual or possible, and the Divine Na-ture, of which grace is a real and formal participation. By nature God gives us gratuitously to ourselves; by grace He" gives Himself gratuitously to us. Thus nature and grace are as distinct from each other as we are from God--infinitely. The just soul is "a partaker of the Divine Nature" insofar as it has within itself the radical prin-ciple of supernatural life, the life of God. St. Thomas tells us that 68 March, 1951 DOMINICAN SPIRITUALITY. the sanctifying grace of a single soul is of more value than all the natural good of the universe, m.'9(~ than all created or possible angelic natures combined. " -:" We can hardly conceive ~( higher idea of the order of grace. Neither can we' admit that thei'e is in us the least germ of this super-natural life. It is absolutely and entirely "the free gift of Almighty God. We have, it is true,, the purely passive capacity of being raised to the supernatural life. .This capacity, however, is no greater in the most perfect angel than in the humblest Christian soul. o And if the latter die with a degree of grace equal to that of the most perfect angel, she will see God as perfectly as that angel does. Such are some of the notions of the Angelic Doctor with regard to the order of grace and the supernatural. Our Faith teaches us that we are destined to this supernatural life. Grace is but the commence-ment of it, the seed of our eternal happiness. The effects of grace, he says, are the healing 6f the soul, wounded by sin, original or actual; the incentive to good desires; the effective operation .of these desires; final perseverance and eternal happiness. Grace unites us to God in charity, supernaturalizes every good action, elevates and perfects us as creatures of an infinitely superior world. The necessity of grace is such that without it we canfiot love God above all things, we cannot fulfill all the precepts of the natural law, we cannot abstain from all mortal sins and we dannot persevere in a good life until death. This teaching of Dominican spirituality thus. emphasizes our complete dependence upon the grace of God~ Are we then reduced to mere machines? No. We have free wills and God saves no man who has not the dksire to be saved. But He does command us to pray, to ask for His. grace and assistance, to beseech Him to bless us with those good gifts which He has determined to bestow only when we ask for them.° By prayer we recognizd God as the sole Author of all good and we realize that we have nothing of ourselves but sin. Thomas used to say that since natural wisdom is the gift of God, man ought not try or hope to acquire it by dint of study without humbly asking for it in prayer. Briefly, these are three'guiding principles of Dominican spir-ituality to be drawn from the Summa Theologica: the development of human nature; the infinite superiority of the life of grace; our complete dependence upon God, with the obligation to pray and labor ceaselessly for His honor and our eternal salvation. 69 REGINALD HUGHES Review for Reli~lious The important place that this spirituality gives to the natural development of our superior faculties has occasioned an accusation of naturalism by some who preferred to consider Thomas more of a philosopher than a theologian. Some have held that the Summa itself savors more of Aristotelian wisdom' than of the Gospel and St. Paul. However, since St. Thomas possessed a very precise notion of the power and purpose of human nature, he comprehended better any, thing that deformed it, all that was unregulated in it. The rooting out and healing of human defects is always considered by him from the point of view of the first cause and the last end, God. He de-clares that true human renovation in our present state is impossible without grace, whose two principal functions are to heal nature an'd elevate it supernaturally. Hence when Thomas speaks of natural perfection and the acquired virtues which constitute it, he is speaking not only as a philosopher, but also as a Christian and a theologian. Dominican spirituality emphasizes as well the infinite superi-ority of the theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity, over the natural knowledge and love of G6d, and also over the natural knowledge of miracles and other signs of revelation. Our infused act of faith is not a natural act clothed over with supernatural mo-dality. It Is essentially supernatural. Its immediate formal motive is none other than Divine revealing Truth. Consequently, it is in-finitely superior to an act of faith made by the devil, founded on the natural evidence of miracles~ even though the devil has infused ideas more perfect than our acquired ones. From this point of view One conceives as well the inestimable value of the least act of charity, the elevation of the infused moral virtues above the acquired moral vir-tues, and the grandeur of the gifts of the Holy Ghost which render us docile to His inspirations. If, as for St. Thomas, fidelity to the Holy Spirit normally leads " one to the living waters of prayer, what should be said of the relation between contemplation and the apostolate? Does the intensity of the first demand the sacrifice of the second, and can the latter hope to be nourished by the warmth and light of the former? Dominican spirituality replies: the teaching of sacred doctrine and preaching ought to be derived from the plenitude of contempla-tion. In the language of St. Thomas these words have a very special significance. Contemplation is not ordained to action as a means subordinate to an end, such as study in view of a lecture, but it pro-duces it as from a superior cause. The culminating point in the life 70 March, 1951 DOMINICAN SPIRITUALITY of the apostle is the hour of Unibn with God in prayer. From this union he should return to men filled with the light of life, to speak of God and lead them to Him. Thus St. Thomas considers the active life and the purely con-templative life as means less perfect than the aposiolic life uniting both. As Christ and the twelve, the modern apostle should be a contemplative who gives to others the fruits of his contemplation to sanctify them. "°"'Contempla,re et contemplata aliis tradere," the motto of Dominican spirituality, are the very words of St. Thomas. With the hours of recollectioia which it exacts, contemplation, far from impeding apostolic activity, is its source. Thomas would say: where our contemplation ceases, there ends our apostolate also. Without it, without the desire to prepare one's self for it, inflated with knowledge, the soul radiates light no longer. Practical natural-ism envelops it and can wholly destroy it. Such divine contemplation as is demanded by Dominican spir-ituality makes one forget what flatters or bruises one's personality. It turns one always to God and souls; it suppresses the fever of superficial activity and spiritualizes one, causes him to act pro-foundly, to say much in a few words. ,~ Such a contemplative and apostolic life was lived by Dominic and many saints and blesseds of his religious family who preached and taught with indefatigable zeal and fire of which the Psalmist speaks: "ignitum eloquium tuum vehementer" (Ps. 1 15). That is one reason why Thomas himself is such a model of Dominican spirituality. Everything he did--pray, preach, teach, or write--he did with all the zeal and eagerness his heart could sug-gest. Zeal, he tells us, is nothing other than intense love, and the measure of our love of God is to love Him without measure. It is significant to note that Dominic, his successor, Blessed Jordan of Saxony, Blessed Reginald, Thomas, Pope Innocent V, St. Louis Bertrand--all died comparatively young. St. Catherine of Siena and St. ,Rose of Lima did not live thirty-five years, and the eleven-year old heart of Imelda Lambertini burst from the intensity of her love of God. "I feel and am persuaded," said St. Thomas, "that the chief duty of life, which.I owe to God, is in all my words, as in all my. thoughts, to speak. His praise." It was then the genius of St. Dominic that he placed his order as it were midway between the older monastic groups that had con-templatibn and personal sanctification as their aim, and the later 71 REGINALD HUGHES Review for Religious active orders that followed the Dominican lead in working for souls. Dominic envisioned the salvation of souls as the cherished fruitage of his prayer, his study and his teaching. Thus to the older monastic observances he added intensive study because there can be no opposition between truth discovered by study and contemplated Divine Truth. A Dominican does not contemplate and study pri-marily in order to preach and save souls, but he is filled with the zeal for the apostolate because through prayer and study he has acquired a deep personal knowledge of God. The closer a man is to Christ, the more apostolic he becomes. Dominican spirituality includes as well a liturgy peculiarly its own and" has guarded it carefully since its approbation by Pope Clement IV in 1267. It is essentially a Roman liturgy, and if any single peculiarity about it were to be noted it would be that it en-closes in its ceremonies a note of solemnity imprinted upon it by the antiquity of its customs and chant; that its prayers have a decidedly theological tone. In fact, it is the liturgy that rules the life of the Friar Preacher. Study, work, recreation, even sleep is set aside in favor of choral reci-tation of the Office, as the injunction of one of the early legislative Chapters of the Order notes: "The Office takes precedence of all our activities." It is easy to understand why St. Dominic gave such an impor-tant place to the observance of the liturgy in the life of his children. First of all, because it is divine worship par excellence, aiding one to perfect his duty of glorifying God. It also leads religious to the perfection of their state of life, because it is a simple and sure way to assimilate one's life to that of Christ, the model of religious. One might ask, what is the connection in Dominican life between the liturgy on one side, and study and the importance of the aposto-late ori the other side? The answer is that the liturgy does not take a religious from the essential object of his studies: God. The lit-urgy itself is the depository of Catholic doctrine condensed in pray-ers, in extracts from the Scriptures and the writings of the Fathers. It has been called living dogma speaking to the heart as well as to the head. T.he Friar Preacher in regularly dividing his time between study and liturgical prayer in no way sacrifices the latter but makes the former more fruitful. Frequent returns to choir keeps study from becoming simply an intellectual work and cold speculation. The danger of intellectualism can hardly menace one who joins 72 March, 1 ~ 51 DOMINICAN SPIRITUALITY study and preaching and teaching with the solemn prayers of the Church. The truth which the religious finds in his books, he dis-covers again in living liturgical formulas. Thanks to the liturgy theology can become a science filled with deep contemplation. As St. Vincent Ferrer has phrased it: "Through this interchange of prayer and study you will have a heart more fervent in prayer and a mind mor~ clarified for study." Not the least attractive feature of Dominican liturgical life is the perfect freedom which it affords~ in the matter of personal prayers. In the organization of Dominican daily life, everything conduces to contemplation. St. Dominic n~ver had any idea of limiting prayer to certain determined periods or forms. The earliest Con~stitutions consecrated the entire day to Go~d. When the Dominican is obliged to silence it is that he may bet-ter forget th~ world and himself that he may the better hear God. When he is placed under obedience to study, it is that the soul may be steeped in ~he beauty of the~ divine mysteries. Thus for him, study, liturgical prayer, - and pe.rsonal prayer suppose one another, sustain one another, penetrate ~n~ anothe~r. To violate them, to separate them, and to compare [~hem jealously would be to falsify the economy of Dominican life! In other Words, the Friar studies to pray better and prays that he may study better. If o~ were to seek characteristics of Dominican prayer he would find first that it is disciplined a,nd strong because saturated with the dogmas of ~he Faith; that it is humble, with a humility begotten of contemplation of the Divine M.ajesty: I am that which is; ~ou are that which is not"; and eminently free, because knowledge begets love and nothing is freer than tl~e love of God. Thus we find a marvellous ~ariety among the Dominican saints. Each one keeps his own distinci physiognomy, his personal tenden-cies, his preferred virtues, and b~ings together underthe same domes-tic roof differences of race, environment, and education. Yet they are all marked by the same distinctive note: the zeal for souls through the doctrinal apostolate. Each a[Ids his own personal note: a Vincent Ferrer, Spanish impetuosity a~d indomitableness; a Henry Suso, Teutonic mildngss and melancholy; a Catherine of Siena, Italian ardor ar;d harmony. It was th, le late Archbishop Paschal Robinson, O.F.M., who once said: "Dominican saints are wonderfully natural in their goodness." In order to prove our virtu~ and to increase our merit, God per- 73 REGINALD HUGHES Revieu; for Religious mits the power of death to exist in us. The body weighs down the soul, 'the flesh struggles against the spirit. Sin has broken the har-mony between the powers of the soul and their Creator. To re-establish order and to correspond to appeals' from our Saviour, vig-orous restraint must be imposed. Dominican spirituality does not ignore this, but prescribes the practices necessary to subdue rebellious forces of nature and to employ their liberated energies for the realiza-tion of the supreme design of Dominican life. It has been said that were a text to be chosen which should express Dominican spirituality, nothing could be more appropriate than the words of Our Lord set down by St. John: "The truth shall make you~ free." The children of Dominic have ever aimed at Truth and have. thus achieved freedom. Dominican spirituality has thus been likened to the architecture that flourished when the Order began its course in the thirteenth century--joyous and unrestrained-- springing up from earth as though it were part of the earth, pointing upwards as though it were part of heaven. "The Heavenly Husbandman, the Supreme Author and Protector of the Faith, has planted in the paradise of the Church as a fertile tree the Sacred Order of Preachers to exhilarate it by its beauty, to satiate it by the abundance and the exquisite savor of its fruits. Of superb aspect, filled with vigorous and dulcet strength, steeped in the morning dew of heaven, this tree is a source of life for the weak, of health for the infirm. Hence innumerable Christians, nourished by its salutary fruits, are endeavouring to shed around them its life-giving influence." (Alexander IV-~1257.) FRANCES SCHERVIER CAUSE ADVANCES After the Sacred Congregation of Rites examined the processes conducted by ordinary and apostolic authority relative to the life, virtues and miracles of the Servant of God, Mother France} Schervier (1819-1876), Foundress of the Sisters of the Poor of St. Francis (1845), the S.C. of Rites recently decreed the processei valid. Preparations are under way for the next step towards beatification, namely: the judgment on the heroic character of the virtues in particular. In this country the community conducts twenty-eight institutions including General Hospitals, Special Hospitals and Social Service Centers, located in .the Arch-dioceses of Cincinnati, Newark, New York and Indianapolis, also in the Diocese~ of Covington, Columbus, Brooklyn, Springfield in Illinois, Kansas City in Kansas, Charleston, Lansing, Steubenville and Albany. 74 A Tentative Testing Program t:or Religious Lit:e Sister M. Digna, O.S.B. THE interest expressed in the use of psychometrics as one means of evaluating the fitness of aspirants to religious life'~nd as objec-tive guides for the counseling of young religious has motivated the formulation of the following tentative testing program. The primary purpose of the testing program is to screen possibly unfit candidates before admission, or before they have assumed"responsi-bilities that they may be unable to carry¯ Unfitness is one of the indications that an individual has not been called to the life of reli-gion for, as canon 538 states, "Every Catholic who is not debarred by any legitimate impediment . . . and is fit to bear the burdens of the religious life, can be admitted into religion." Father 3osepb Creusen, S.,I., professor of canon law at the Gregorian University, Rome, interprets this further. He says, "But the presence of an obstacle which the subject cannot do away with of his own accord or the lack of aptitude, would suffice to show that this desire is the result of a call to a more perfect life in general, and not of a vocation to the religious life in particular.''1 How does one determine an obstacle or a lack of aptitude? Is it best decided on the basis of subjective opinion? Should scientific methods be employed? Communities now utilize the findings of medical science¯ What about the scientific findings in the field of psychometrics?. True, it is a new.field and one would never wish to rely on the findings of any single test or inventory as the sole deter-minant of fitness for religious life, but these data may implement or supplement other subjective impressions and observation; they may be good clues to hidden motives and personality "kinks" that may be corrected before becoming "set." Any testing program for religious life must necessarily be tenta-tive, for there are no tests, other than intelligence tests, that have been devised in terms applicable to religious life. In establishing a testing program for any community, one must consider such factors as trained or untrained personnel, interpretation of the data, and use of the findings. The ideal prerequisite is that some member of the 1Religious Men and Women in the Code, p. 129. 75 SISTER M. DIGNA Ret~iew for Religious community be trained in the field of psychometrics. As a prelim-inary step, several basic courses in tests and measurements may suffice. In lieu of trained personnel, the services of someone who is sympathet.ic to testing, who will conscientiously adhere to manuals of directions, and who will be extremely careful in interpreting results may be utilized. Much emphasis needs to be placed upon the inter-pretation of the findings, lest an individual be kept from the reli-gious 'life because of hastily drawn conclusions not warranted by the test or inventory itself. The examiner must assemble all types of information. The administrator will then make a careful study of all the data before recommending the admission or rejection of the aspirant. In case the applicant is accepted, the data may. also assist in orienting him to the religious life. A director provided with all the subjective and objective facts about the candidate can help him to a speedier and holier adjustment to religious life. ¯ Use of Intelligence Tests Other things being equal, a director can give better religious guidance according to his knowledge of the subject's degree of intel-ligence. Intelligence tests help one to gain this knowledge. One test, which may be referred to here as an example of the use of. intel-ligence tests, is the California Test of Mental Maturity, advanced series. This test has a number of significant features. .It is both diagnostic and analytical, and the scores may be interpreted in terms of mental ages and intelligence quotients: It includes items dealing with language fadtors, non-language factors, memory, spatial rela-tions, logical .reasoning, numerical reasoning, and vocabulary. The pre-tests are visual acuity, the purpose of which is to discover whether the examinees can see well enough to take the remaining .tests with fairness to themselves; the auditory acuity test, to discover whether individuals hear well enough what is said to them in an ordiliary tone of voice to warrant the giving of the tests; and a third to deter-mine the degree of motor coordinations the examinee possesses. After¯ the tests proper have been¯ administerd, the test results may be interpreted in terms of the language test data, which ale useful in indicating how well the individual understands relationships ex-pressed in words, and the non-language tests data indicating how well the individual ufiderstands relationships among things or ob-jects when language is not involved. The significance of these addi-tional data for guidance, selection, and placement is obvious in that 7,6 March, 1951 TESTING PROGRAM they Will make possible a more appropriate consideration of the real abilities of ti~e person. David .Wecbsler's interpretation of intelli-gence quotients for ages ten to ~ixtyu may be used: 128 and over, very superior; 120-127, superior; 1 I1-I I9, high average; 9i-I10, average; 80-90, low average; 66-79, borderline; and below 65," defective. What are the implications of these figure~ in any psychological testing program? First, the elimination of those unable to grasp the meaning of religious life; and secondly, the utilization of intelligence scores for determining the educational and vocational placement of religious. .In general, the intelligence score of the applicant is one more concrete evidence of the intellectual ability of, the individual. Those who are inferior or very low may need to be re-tested. If the score places the individuals below the low average, it is very doubtful whether they will be useful in religious life, unless the community is willing to assign them to very simple tasks. Then these questions arise: how well will they be able to understand the meamng and implications of religious life? How much benefit will they derive from the novitiate instruction? And will the community be willing to assume responsibility for possible custodial care? Personalitg Tests Intelligence is only one factor. Other factors such as background, personality, aptitudes, and interests should be considered when one applies, for admission into the religious life. Since the personality "from the philosophical point of view is too abstract an approach to give the necessary clues to the'individual's potentialities in getting along with others, the more concrete, approach is considered, here. The social skills which are basic to getting along with others are ski.lls that can be acquired. In community life gra- ¯ ciousness of manner and social skills need to be supernaturalized by stressing the virtue of charity as the- motivating force. What are the potentialities for an individual to get along with others and to sublimate the ups and downs of routine living with diverse temperaments? A personality needs to be free from nervous symptoms and introvertive or anti-social tendencies to adjust to reli-gious life. Even the most conscientious and holy novice master or mistress will succeed only in veneering a personality unless he recog-nizes the basic causes for certain personality defects. True, it may, 2The Measu~'ament of Adult Intelligence, p. 40. 7.7 SISTER M. D[GNA Review fol Religiou~ and likely will; happen that the subject makes a valiant effort to overcome these "faults,~' but if the fight seems continually a losing one, and the pressure of close supericision is removed, there is little doubt that the individual will revert to his innate tendencies. How detect these underlying causes, for maladjustments? No foolproof method of appraising personality has yet been devised. G~nerally, the personality scale takes the form of a rating scale. A definite assumption should motivate the use of any one of several rating scales. Most personality ratings have a number of valid uses if and when they are well administered. Common sense should operate in determining the purposes of the ratings and how they are to be used. Personal'ity tests are not as precise as or as easily interpreted as I.Q. tests; they are indicators rather than measure-ments of personality, and they p'rovide worthwhile leads to work upon for, symptomatic indications of emotional conflicts, maladjust-ments, tensions, anti-socialattitudes, and anxieties. A good person-ality is one that has achieved a balance between self and those around one. The self-adjustment is often indicated in terms of self-reliance, sense of personal worth, sense of belonging, sense of freedom, and freedom from withdrawing and nervousness. The adjustment toward others is interpreted in terms of social standards, social skills, whole-some gregariousness, family and social relationships. Among the several tests suitable for a testing program is the Cali-fornia Test of PerSonality. It includes items that will reveal the presence or absence of desirable or undesirable traits. The test is easy to administer and easy to score and, although the interpretation of the scores is almost self-evident, it is. wise for the one who interprets the test to explore further and probe deeper the other data on the person, particularly the intelligence quotient, the family history, and previous schooling record. In general, letters of recommendation are not too reliable, for tile tendency of.many, flattered by having to recommend an individual, is to put a halo around the person. The expressed purpose of the authors of the California Personality Test is to enable counselors to appraise and to improve thh personality of all ages. This instrument" makes possible a detailed and patterned diagnosis of personality adjustment as a basis for improvement that is possible of realization. Another test, the Bell Adjustment Inventory, attempts to get a reliable measure of an individual's personality in ihe areas of home, health, social, emotional, and occupational adjustments. This inven- 78 March, 1951 A TESTING PROGRAM tory is not more: than thirty minutes in length and it is easy to ad-minister, with simple and clear directions. The time for scoring each' test is not more than three minutes. In utilizing the inventory, the administrator needs to realize that, whereas it is more objective and more penetrating than observation, the results should be used only to implement other data. The Personality Inventory by Bernreuter has four specific areas which are assessed. B1-N is a measure of neurotic tendencies. A person scoring high on this scale tends to be emotionally unstable. Those scoring above the 98~percentile would probably need psychi-atric or medical advice, and certainly one would be hesitant about admitting aspirants to religious life with exceptionally oh'igh scores in this area without further consultation with a medical man. The B2-S is a measure of self-sufficiency.' Persons scoring high on this scale prefer to be alone, rarely ask for sympathy or encourggement, and tend to ignore the advice of others. The low score indicates the type of personality disliking to be alone, and often seeking advice of others. Perhaps scores on this section would in no way debar the aspirant from admission into religious life or from the priesthood, but in directing and guiding the individual, the scores offer clues to innate causes for externaI behavior. Modification of undesirable behavior patterns can best be attained by a.clear understanding of the innate causes. The B3-1 section of the Bernreuter Inventory meas-ures introversion-extroversion, with the high scores indicating intro-version, the low, extroversion. A score above the 98 percentile in this part of the inventory bears a similar significance to a high score on the BI-H section. The B4-D classifies the personality of the individual as either dominant or submissive. Low scores represent the naturally submissive type of individual. The use of the Minnesota Personality Scale and its interpreta~ tion was explained in considerable detail in a previou, s article.8 Unless there are trained individuals for interpreting the results, a community is wise to begin a testing program without attempting the more refined techniques of personality assessment through such projective techniques as the Rorschach Method. The Thematic Apperception Test or the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inven-tory should be administered and interpreted only by individuals trained to do so. As an initial step, it seems wiser to resort to the 8"Practical Application of Psychometrics to Religious Life," by Sister M. Digna, O.S.B., in REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, IX, 132-39. 79 SISTER M. DIGNA " Reoieto for Religious simpler tests that can be administered and interpreted by a beginner before attempting to use more penetgating tests. Other Tests To insure better adjustment in religious life, some cognizance might well be taken of the individual interest and occupational pref- .erences. General and occupational interest inventories reveal whether the level, types, and fields of work offered meet the interests and the needs of the individuals. In planning effective community place-ment, an appraisal of the competencies, strengths, and weaknesses of the individual as they relate to a given area of worl~ or a specific task will often insure greater satisfaction on the part of the community as well as th~ individual. Two rather well-known and fairly reliable tests are the Kuder Preference Record, and Strong's Interest Blank. The Kuder Pref- .erence Record determines the types of activities which people prefer. The manual lists typical occupations which may correspond to the :preferred type of activity. Scores are designed to be recorded in the form of a graphic profile showing the percentile rank of the indi-vidual for each type of activity. Form BB gives scores for the fol-lowing activities: mechanical, computational, scientific, persuasive, artistic, literary, musical, social service, and clerical. The test is easy to administer, to, correct, and to interpret. Strong's Vocational In-terest Blank, one for women and one for men, is considered by some authorities more reliable than that of Kuder, but the scoring is very difficult. It is advisable to bare the answer sheets scored by machine, which costs from fifty cents to a dollar for each blank. The under-lying purpose of this appraisal of vocational interest is to indicate how closely the individual's interests correspond, with those of men and women successfully engaged in certain occupations. There are over 35 occupations, six occupational groups and three non-occupa-tional traits for men; for women, over 17 occupations and one non-occupational trait. Since there is a re!ationship between the level of the intelligence quotient and adult occupational adjustment, the following classifica-tion of Bernreuter and Cart4 may be of interest to those who wish to think of future work in terms of measured ability. These au-thorities believe .that the person with superior intelligence (115 and 4"The Interpretation of I.Q.'s on the L-M Stanford-Binet." in Journal of Educa-tional Psychology, XXIX, 312-14. 80 March, 195 l PEACE upward) will be best qualified for professional work requiring college or university training, the individual having a measured normal in-telligence quotient (85-114) will succeed in work requiring high school training, and the low average or dull person with an intelli-gence quotient between 70 and 84, unskilled work. The main rea-sons for using interest tes(s ar,e to isolate, evaluate, and utilize the findings showing aptitudes and interests which are required for the different types of occupations, An adequate testing program for religious communities requires the accumulation of objective, evidence regarding the competencies, weaknesses, and strengths of the candidate. The data should include information regarding the physical, mental, educatio;aal, vocational, and social status of the applicant. The findings need to be integrated as an aid in arriving at the most satisfactory conclusions. The obvious limitations of objective testing devices should be noted, but the failure to use them at all is almost certain to result in great inac-curacies of diagnosis, since personal observation and judgment are not completely reliable. Peace Winfrid Herbst, S.D.S. OF ALL the good things the Savior desires for you, one of the .first is peace. "Pax vobis!" Those were His first thrilling words to the Apostles assembled in the Upper Room after His resurrection. You must ever strive to acquire this deep, interior, lasting peace--a calm, spiritual contentment--and it must influence your exterior actions by making them deliberate and quietly, al-though sensibly, precise. Walking in the presence of God and unceasing watchfulness over your tongue are two means of obtaining and preserving peace. They are particularly helpful, even necessary for you. And there are two secret societies which you may join to your great spiritual advantage, namely, the KYMS and the MYOB. Those letters mean Keep Your Mouth Shut andMind Your Own Business. The careful observance of these directives means greater peace of heart than you would at first believe. 81 WINFRID HERBST Review for Religious You have been a religious long enough to know the calm and contentment that comes to one who reposes trustingly in the arms of God. "Thou hast made us for Thyself, 0 God, and our hearts are not at rest until they rest in Thee." How well you have learned to understand and to feel this, even here below. From now on may yours be a lasting Pax in Domino. Remember the days when the thought of the eternal years, even with God, filled your soul With strange and crushing dread? It is a far cry from that day to this, when your soul is filled with peace and repose at the thought that you belong to God. How long it takes before we understand even a little! But, sometimes, after years of effort and meditation, a certain truth will come to life in a flash. In an instant we seem to realize--and the realization endures. Of late you have been much drawn to meditation on God, as He is in Himself, as thus set forth in glowing words by the Vatican Council: "The Catholic Church believes that there is .one true and living God, the Creator and Lord of heaven and earth, Almighty, Eternal, Immense, Incomprehensible, Infinite in intellect and will and in all perfection; who, being one, individual, altogether simple and unchangeable Substance, must be asserted to be really and essen-tially distinct from the world, most happy in Himself, and ineffably exalted above everything that exists or can be conceived." And then it came home to you with astonishing light and truth that this great God became also Man for love of you! And you profess your faith in the being and power of ~our God; you profess your hope in His wisdom; and you profess your love for Him as the Supreme Good. You pray to Him that He may ever give you the grace to rest peace-fully in the arms of His Providence--in a word, to be completely happy, satisfied, and content that you belong to God. The closer your union with God, the greater will be your peace of heart. You realize this; and that is why there comes from the very depths of your heart the longing prayer: "0 my God, would that I could attain my ideal in the matter of my daily Mass and Com-munion and Office; my evaluation of my vocation; the perfect ob-servance of the Rule; the most perfect observance of the vows, which make me a religious; the spiritual exercises of every day, all of them, during the whole time prescribed! How happy I would then be! My ideal is ever before me. It is clear and definite, outlined in my "law book," the constitutions. To reach it means sanctity. But strive as I may--and the past years have literally been years of be- 82 Ma~h, 195l PEACE ¯ ginnings--I do not seem to be able to attain the heights. Help me, my Savior, to go forward slowly but surely, in a calm, sensible, de-termined way. Come, Holy Ghost, guide me always through those who speak to me in conferences, sermons, chapter exhortations, con-fessional advice, retreat considerations, spiritu,al books--guide me always; for Thou knowest how much circumstances make it neces-sary for me to be thus guided by Thee. Then will I have that peace of heart which surpasses all understanding." Peace will abound in your spiritual life if you let your reverence for God manifest itself by recollection in prayer. Try every day to pray a little more than is necessary, in order to safeguard what is prescribed. And after reverence for God must come reverence for your superiors, who take God's place in your regard. Show them the utmost loyalty, disregarding their faults. Thereupon must come reverence for equals or inferiors. Be sure to treat them all with the deference and respect due to the chosen friends of God. And in all these things there must be respect for self. Of yoursdf you are indeed nothing; yet you must reverence yourself and have great confidence. You must be a worthy child of your Father in heaven. You must-not be a coward and thus seem to make a failure of Almighty God. Pray to the Savior that you may be thus reg, erent. Peace of heart can be lost by being so engrossed in the Father's business that you neglect your daily prayers and spiritual exercises, or at least perform them in a maze of distractions. That will never do. You must never lose yourself in external activity to the detri-ment of inward recollection and union with God." Never let your-self be permanently overwhelmed with work or business. No; rather your vocal prayers must be said without haste; your mental prayer must be calm and quiet, with a varied method and a generous ad-mixture of vocal ejaculatory prayers. Your meditation may not, week after week, be of that more-dead-than-alive sort. Remember, in a practical way, that one prayer is always good-~"Lord, teach us to pray." Let this be your determined resolution and an oft repeated re-solve, one that means great mortification and corresponding progress in the spiritual life: "No matter when or where, I will perform all my spiritual" exercises, eoert.I day, during the whole time prescribed for them, and with devotion." Failure to do this means dissatisfac-tion with self, letting oneself go, ~nd consequent misery because one is not what one professes to be. It is a hard resolution to keep, but 83 ANONYMOUS Review for Religious the peace of heart it brings--and glory of God--is worth it. Do not grow weary of being good. It may be that some day, for a moment at least, you will feel such a deep, personal, sweet, and de-lightful love for our dear Lord that, thus athrill with joy, you will realize for the first time in your life what heavenly happiness means, what bliss floods the soul when it is united with God. It may be a feeling of being in the arms of God, all enveloped by His love, all filled with a sensation of peace and satisfaction such as you cannot describe. And when yot~ are dying that same feeling just described may come over you, so that, exultant in the thought of going home to 3esus, flooded with spiritual joy, you exclaim, in the heart if not with the lips: "Oh, I did not think it was so sweet to die. I am so happy. I am so glad to go. My soul is enjoying a foretaste of heavenly peace." Why Do They Leave? [AUTHOR'S NOTE. The reflections that follow were partly (not only nor chiefly) prompted by two recent books. Though differing in many respects, both books tend to give an unfavorable impression of the religious life. La Nuit est ma Lu-mitre, by Dr. Etienne de Greeff, is a novel by a Catholic doctor-psychiatrist, who is a professor at Louvain University. Instructive in many respects, it tells some unpleasant truths about religious, but fails to do full justice to the Catholic con-cept of the religious life. It portrays "those terrible vows" as a source of medi-ocrity more often than not and maintains that only exceptionally gifted souls would find in" them the starting point and permanent inspiration for more than human greatness. The second book, I Leap ot~er the Wall, by Monica Baldwin, is more literary but less instructive. The well-known bestseller tells the autobio-graphical story of an ex-nun who left a cloistered convent in England in 1941 after twenty-eight years of religious life and struggles with the problem of re-adapting herself to a world where she feels altogether lost. The Rip van Winkle experience of ie-awakening to the world, and to a world at war, after twenty-eight years "sleep" is rather overdone. The author's references to her past religious life fluctuate between two tones: one of slightly ironical depreciation of the antiquated standstill in which the rules and customs, inherited from the Middle Ages, freeze the nuns: another of a sincere endeavor to give "worldly" people an idea of what religious life really is and of how it is possible to live and be happy in it.~The following reflections are written by one who stayed for twenty-eight years and hopes to stay for many ~EW religious live for long in any order or congregation without seeing some of their fellow religious leave. This happens espe-cially during the years of probation, before first or final vows. It is only natural and normal. Religious in training who find out 84 March, 19~ 1 WHY DO THEY LEAVE "they had no vocation" go back to the world. It also happens, con-siderably more rarely, after the last profession. We may not like to think of these facts, but we cannot help knowing them. Perhaps it is good~ just for once, to face them squarely. Why do these religious leave? We who stay are perhaps compelled to answer this question for ourselves. We may and do sincerely endeavor to give a charitable and supernatural answer. Yet, is it not true that these departures always leave some feeling of uneasiness, at times only slight, at other times, when the persons concerned are closer to us, more painful and persisting? We do not mean to say that every one of them shakes our vocation. The grace of our vocation, thanks be to God, does not stand or fall with what happens around us. But the events we are speaking of do not generally leave Us altogether unaffected. They at least provoke reflection and prayer. They Had No Vocation? Why do they leave? The answer to our que,stion is complex, for natural and supernatural reasons fuse. We must endeavor to put them down as simply and sincerely as we can. The truth, here as elsewhere, will be liberating. Why do they leave? Because, we like to think., they find out they had no vocation. Often, very often perhaps, that may be true. A religious vocation" is a grace, and because grace builds on nature and perfects it, the grace of a religious vocation supposes a certain natural foundation. Without this, nor-mally speaking, it can har'dly be genuine. To have or not to have a vocation means that God calls or does not call one to the religious state. But how do we generally come to know the grace God offers? The signs of a true vocation are normally these three: (1) natural and supernatural aptitude to live the religious life; (2) a right intention, mainly or chiefly (perhaps not exclusively), inspired by supernatural motives: and (3) the desire or will to answer the divine call. "Candidates have the natural aptitude when they are physically, mentally, and morally fit, that is, when they have suffi-cient heal~h, gifts of mind and education, and sufficient strength of character and freedom from habits and inclinations that are not com-patible with a life according to the vows and rules and are not likely to be corrected by the regular training. When at the same time they have a sufficient spirit of piety, self-abnegation, and apostolic aspira-tions, born from and nourished by regular prayer' and the reception of the sacraments, then their aptitude is also supernatural. Let such 85 ANONYMOUS Reoieua for Religious apt candidates intend to join a religious institute, not only nor mainly to find an honorable state of life, but chiefly to work out the salvation of their own souls and to do much good, whether to pray and study, or help the sick, or teach and educate the children, or to go to the missions; or more definitely because they believe, after reflection and prayer and taking advice, that such is God's will for them. Then they have also the right intention. It is then enough for them to conceive the desire to enter the religious state in one of its institutes, according to the guidance of Providenci expressed in the concrete circumstances in which they live: school, home educa-tion, contacts, examples, advice from parents or teachers. Their religious vocation then materializes into actual fact. Those who so join have the vocation. It is officially sanctioned, in the name of the Church and of Christ, when the institute accepts their profession. How then does it happen that some religious, after years of actual experience of the religious life, come to believe and to find out that they had no vocation? Normally that is found out before long. When any of the three mentioned factors of a vocation is lacking in a notable degree so as to arouse serious doubts about the genuineness of the vocation,, the religious in probation or their superiors will generally come to know this in the course of the years of training. That such a previous mistake was possible need not cause any sur-prise. What was an apparent vocation may turn out a failure and ¯ prove a'sbam vocation. True self-knowledge is rare especially in the young who have little experience of life and of men. They may have deceived themselves or have been deceived in good faith about their aptness 'for a kind of life of which they bad but little or only second-hand knowledge. Even spiritual directors may have been misled into believing in a vocation that later proves not to have been genuine. When this discovery takes place during the years of pro-bation, it is not abnormal, for such religious to return to secular llfe. But after years of professed life this discovery can only be excep-tional. If it were not so, it would mean that no one could have a sufficient human guarantee of a religious vocation, in spite of the official sanction of the Church contained in the very acceptance by the institute of the perpetual vows. This would go against the whble Catholic idea of a vocation. It would come to mean that, counter to the very belief of the Church, the approved religious institutes are hardly a safe way to Christian perfection. And so it can only be due to abnormal, personal or extrinsic, circumstances that religious failed 86 March, 1951 ¯ WHY DO THEY LEAVE to test sufficiently, during the years of probation, the genuineness of their vocation. They Lost Their Vocation Apart from such rare and exceptional cases', the reason why pro-fessed religious leave will more often be different. It will rather be because theg lost their vocation. Yes, that is possible. What do we mean by saying so? Nothing else but.that the three signs of a religious vocation mentioned above no longer exist. They may have existed in a remarkable degree. At the time they constituted a guar-antee of perseverance in a genuine vocation. But then a moment came, generally not before more or less conscious and guilty neglect of rather important duties, when a gradual decline of.the physical, mental, and moral fitness made the fidelity to the duties of the reli-gious state harder and harder. Till one day these religious find themselves nearly without desire for their state of life and tired of the many duties and occupations that have become almost mean-ingless to them. When natural and supernatu.ral aptness for the religious life have dwindled close to unfitness, it is hard for men to maintain a right intention in the state of life t6 which they were secretly unfaithful. It is then only one step 'for them to give up the desire of an ideal that is no longer their own. And another step to translate into action a listlessness that is but the reverse.side of a hidden new longing which has taken root in their hearts and driven out the former intention. Such religious leave bechuse they lost their vocation. Does this happen without any fault of their own? In some blatant and rare cases the loss of a vocation certainly involves grievous faults. That is beyond doubt when serious and repeated breaches of the vows, to the scandal of outsiders as well, lead to the 'dismissal. These breaches may be entanglements in money matters, or consist in infidelity to the second vow, or in more or less open revolt against obedience. But it probably may also happen without definitely grievous faults. Regular and protracfed unfaithfulness in relatively small ma~ters of religious observance may gradually lead to a kind of tiredness of the religious state which .becomes an ever growing unfitness. Only if this infidelity be persistent over a long period of time does it thus lead ~o disaster. God's grace is faithful and powerful and may easily prevent the worst. But when grace is resisted habitually and persistently, that infidelity may well strike the death blow to a religious vocation. 87 ANONYMOUS Revieu; for Religious When a vocation is lost before the final profession, there is more likelihood that it could and did happen without grave sin. The idea of temporary vocations which some theologians of the spiritual life are inclined to accept would favor the possibility of such cases. God may in His Providence prepare some people for the role He wishes them to play in the world by granting them the grace of a few years of religious training. There are many cases of men and women who tried the religious life and were led to give it up, but remained forever grateful to God for the years they spent in the cloister. But after the last profession when religious have bound themselves for ever, and when the Church, in Christ's own name, has accepted their self-oblation, the idea of a temporary vocation is well nigh excluded. Not absolutely, it is true, because it is possible, though not probable, that Providence prepares one for a plan of His own by a long religious training. His ways are not ours. Every-human rule is open to exception. In Terms o~: Human Psycboloqq The loss of a religious vocation translates in terms of spiritual theology what on the level of human psychology we hear expressed more bluntly by various reasons such as: they are not happy; theg have enough of it; the[l can no longer. Have we not heard some-thing like that after a fellow religious left? They were not happy in the religious life which did not suit them any longer. They felt themselves like square pegs in round holes, out of place, out of tune with their surroundings, their occupations, their duties. How could they be happy in a state which, they dislike and for which they are unfit? That feeling of unhappiness was not just a passing im-pression or temptation. It had grown into a habitual painful state, an obsession with the idea of out-of-place-ness which left them no rest nor peace. Who will wonder if they came to acknowledge to themselves that "they have had enough of it"? It is possible for men to endure passing interior trials valiantly. Both natural courage and the strength that comes from God's grace enable them to stand the purifying test of interior tedium and moral fatigue. That trial allows hope; sooner or later it passes and leaves deeper and firmer happiness. But when there seems to be no end to the feeling of unhappiness, when natural courage fails, even health at times partly failing as well, and when, because of unfaithfulness to God, grace does not come to give strength to those who refuse it, small wonder that they grow tired, over,tired, of an effort which 88 March, 1951 ~rHY DO THEY LEAVE? seems vain and meaningless, too tired to sustain it any longer. "They can no longer." When these religious con. less to themselves that something has snapped in their spiritual resilience, irretrievably, they are but a hair's breadth from "letting things go." That psychological downfall did not, of course, (ome all of a sudden. Its gradual preparation was slow, spread over many months or years. For quite a time they may hav~ been walking, or staying, just on the edge of the precipice. Had they been faithful to God in p?ayer so as to hear and accept the ¯ warning and the help of His never-failing grace, they would have had the light and the courage to withdraw from that state of danger. But unfaithfulness to regular duty cut them off from that source of strength. Left to themselves in their pitiful condition of weariness and loneliness they came to tell themselves that it really was too much, they could no longer. They dare to make this self-avowal because meanwhile another light dawned in their unhappy minds. They need not be religious to save their souls and serve God. In the world as well they can be good Christians, do their duties, and gain. their heaven. Rather than drag on an impossible life in the cloister, be happy and serve God in the world! Have they not been told: "Better be a good Christian in the world than a bad religious'"? They begin to see they must and will have the courage to face the situation and to change. Rather than cowardly hide to themselves and to others the real state of things and insincerely carry on a hypocritical staging of a religious life, they will have the courage to leave. And so they decided to leave. Disappointment Why then did they leave? If we read through the phrases they tell themselves and others to justify the step they take, their reasons will probably come down, in spite of surface differences, to one and the same: they felt disappointed with the religious life. The real, perhaps ~lmost unique, reason why some religious leave is, in the last instance, their disappointment with the religious life. They dreamed of an ideal life of service of God and of the neighbor: prayer, devotion, self-sacrifice, apostolate. They found a prosaic reality far remote, on the face of it, from the ideal of their dreams. Ordinary duties, long and at times dry prayers, painful and harassing community life, uninteresting and difficult fellow religious to live with, ungrateful and often monotonous work with little interested 89 ANONYMOUS Re~ieu~ for Religious and uninteresting people, and their best efforts and merits often, apparently, unappreciated and unrecognized. Yes, there is a difference between the ideal of the religious life, such as it is seen through the eyes of enthusiastic candidates, and the reality of the ordinary daily duties in the cloister. To young ideal-ists the religious observance looks attractive. When, in the actual practice of that life, religious stop at the surface only, the partly romantic interest soon wears off. Unless they penetrate deeper into the h~dden meaning of it all and discover in a genuine interior life nourished with prayer and silent sacrifice the hidden Treasure for whose sake they sold all their belongings, religious miss the point of their vocation. It was understood, of course, in their youthful dreams too, that a religious vocation implled many a sacrifice. But these very sacrifices wer~ made to look so attractive and interesting that they became just one more thing, somewhat unpleasant yes, which they were to carry off in their magnanimous stride towards the ideal. But in the reality of the life in the cloister once the novelty of the exterior duties has worn off and with it much of their natural charm and interest, what remains standing out above the rest is pre-cisely the painful side of uninteresting, unappreciated, ever recurring little (and at times bigger) sacrifices which these duties mean to self-love, self-esteem, self-satisfactlon. Unless then a deeper and more powerful attractiveness of the service of God and of men has replaced the former superficial charm, and has transformed the unpoetical reality of daily duties and sacrifices into the mysterious communion of divine love, human hearts are apt, if not bound, to feel disap-pointed. It is perhaps the common experience of religious that the reality of their vocation is very different from what they expected it to be. But it can be different in two ways. It is either much more beauti-ful and more worth-while than they ever dare to dream it; though this beauty is generally different than their half-worldly' minds once upon a time liked to fancy it. Or it is much less interesting and much more painful than they formerly imagined. Much better or much worse! Much better, if faithful to the grace of their vocation they succeed in unearthing the hidden greatness and happiness of a life of union with God, an anticipation of what He prepares for them in a measure surpassing all human understanding. Much worse, if unfaithful to the call of daily graces, they do not enter into the deep meaning of their vocation and stop less than half-way on their 90 March, 19 51 WHY DO THEY LEAVE ? march to the ideal. All they .find is the soon uninteresting, painful, boring, and finally unbearable burden of many meaningless duties. Can they feel otherwise than disappointed? Unseen--Unreal? If some religious lose their vocation, lose their fitness for its real life and grow disappointed, it is because they leave out of their lives the very substance of that vocation: the supernatural interior life of grace and of self-sacrifice which is the love of God. The religious life, limited to its superficial aspect only, is unable to satisfy the deepest aspirations of human hearts. For those for whom the unseen reality of the religious vocation is close to unreal, it is hardly possible not to feel deeply disappointed and soon to grow disaffected towards the religious life. Sometimes the disappointed religious unwittingly deceive "them-selves into believing that their disappointment does not lie with the ideal religious life such as it should be, but with the reality they found instead of it. Neither superiors nor fellow religious are found to be as they should. If only the institute were what its constitu-tions and laws claim it to be, they would not have been disappointed. There may be some good faith in this frame of mind. But it lacks realistic sense. Where is the human institution without short-comings? Are not these very deficiencies the matter out of which religious humility and perfection are built up? Had these religious not lacked the interior spirit, they Would have been able to see the great reality hidden under at times defective appearances. They would not have been blind to the great good that, next to the defects, is visible to every eye. That hidden reality does not disappoint. The feeling of disappointment and disaffection need not always be acute. Even when it is only partial but goes together, in rather shallow souls, with the need for a change that has been called the characteristic unsteadfastness of our war and post-war times, it may lead to the same result, the loss of the vocation. This need of a change works all the more effectively when after a considerable num-ber of years in the religious life a certain detachment from human ties has naturally followed on the actual separation from relatives and friends. If meanwhile no new higher attachment has taken the place of the old ones, as is the case in the disappointed and disaffected religious, then some sort of feeling of "being in the air" easily makes the balance of hesitation topple over. Perhaps it is the working 91 ANONYMOUS Reoieta ~:or Religious together of these different psychological factors that is actually the more frequent reason why some religious !leave. Why Do We.Sta~? They leave. We, with God's grace! stay. Perhaps we must conclude the above reflections by briefly answering another question that may have been sleeping at the back 6f our minds from the first and is by now wide awake: Why do u~e stay? We stay, because we believe in the grac! of our vocation. He who chose us knew whom He was choosing and He is faithful. We stay, because, with the help of that grace, we sincerely endeavor to make and to keep ourselves ever more fit, naturally and supernaturally, for the life and the duties to which He called us. We stay, because day by day, with the help of His grace, we work and pray and sacrifice to preserve our vocation. For in spite of passing weakness and for-getfulness, of neglect and of failing, of humbling faults, we know that He reads our hearts and sees the sin.cerity of our desires, even when they are hidden under negligence an'd human frailty. We stay, because we are happy in His service. With the help of His grace He led us to discover something of the hidden Treasure that is His love, His very Self. He helped us see and experience, at times clearly, at times in a hidden manner, through the veil of faith, the great joy and happiness of sacrifice out of love. He helped us discover Him, our Love, on the cross. He let us experience the puri-fying and deepening effects of trial and suffering which He sends in many different ways, but always as the cross-shaped sign of His love. Our love grows greater and stronger and deeper when te.mpered in the crucible of sacrifice. Even the natural joys and the natural hap-piness of the religious life--for there are these as well--are purer and nobler and more thoroughly satisfying when our hearts have shared in Christ's sorrows. Because of this great and unshakable happiness, we shall never, with the assistance of His grace, have enough of it. For unlike merely human happiness and greatness, which always bears the risk of saturation and fatigue, the spiritual joys of the Lord, experience has shown us, sharpen our hunger the more we happen to taste' of them. Even for our share in His sacrifice we shall never say: "It is enough, or too much." His grace helped us experience that the greater our actual share in His cross, the keener our hunger and thirst after justice. With the help of His grace we shall always be able to accept the small and large crosses He chooses for each one of 92 March, 1951 BOOK REVII~W$ us. Never shall we say, "We can no longer" because we know that He never asks for any sacrifice without also giving strength and happiness. We stay, because we are not disappointed with the religious life and we know that, with the help of His grace, we sha.ll never be. The Lord does not disappoint! The human realities of the religious life do and will, no doubt, remain human, that is, imperfect in many ways. We know that only too well, from ourselves to begin with, and much more from ourselves than from our fellow religious around us. But we also know that these very imperfections are not disap-pointing because we see them and at all times wish to see them in the light of His love that transforms them into the precious material out of which He builds true, unseen greatness. We are not disappointed because we love our vocation, such as it is, with the persons and the places° and the duties and the circumstances which His loving Provi-dence chose and chooses 'for ds. In the light and warmth of His love, radiating from His and our cross, we know that "it is good for us to be here." That is why we stay. With the heIp of His grace we shall stay on, and work and pray and sacrifice, till we hear another call of His; when He will invite Hi~ faithful servants into His own home. Meanwhile, in our prayers and sacrifices we shall pray that His mercy accompany the unfortunate ones who left and the more privileged ones who stay.--Quid retribuam? What shall I render in return? Book Reviews CATHOLIC SOCIAL PRINCIPLES. By John F. Cronln, S.S. Pp. xxvlll -~- 803. The Bruce Publishing Company, Milwaukee, 1950. $6.00. Appendix~II of this book contains a 37-page annotated reading list. The length of the list is significant. It explains why many of us have experienced an increasing hollow feeling as we looked forward through the years to the day when we might.become well-informed about the social teaching of the Church. Through these same years .we have seen books and articles on the social question follow one another with such rapid succession that we wondered whether we should ever be able even to skim the surface of this literature. Realizing the Church's desire that we know her social teaching, and 93 BOOK REVIEWS yearning to fulfill this desire, yet we had to ask ourselves with a cer-tain helplessness, "What can one do to learn even the essentials?' One thing to do is to read this book. It will counteract the hol-low feeling with at least the wholesome food of accurate general in-formation on "The Social Teaching of the Catholic Church Applied to American Economic Life" (the subtitle). , So many and such comprehensive reviews of Catholic Social Prin-ciples have already appeared that it is unnecessary for me to give a detailed picture of it. The book is divided into three parts that move logically from the general to the particular. Part I gives general principles of Catholic social teaching: explaining the foundation, rejecting unsound theories, and culminhting in an exposition of the ideal social order. Part II considers concrete aspects of the social probiem (capital, labor, wages, unions, property, functions of Church and State) in the light of generai p~inciples. Each chapter of these first two parts begins with a compilation of pertinent au-thoritative statements, espec'ially those made by Po~es and hierar-chies. Part III surveys various attempts by American Catholics to formulate a salutary social program. There are three appendices, as well as an Index of Authorities and a General Index. The method of treatment is both expository and critical. The tone is moderate. "Extremes beget extremes," writes Father Cronin, "whereas modera-tion wins adherents." He should win many adherents. Experts in various phases of Catholic teachin[l might suggest improvements in Father Cronin's book when he touches on their respective fields, but they could hardly question its general excellence. I am content to recommend it without any reservation to religious superiors, teachers, and those engaged in the social apostolate. In fact, I would recommend it to everyone, but I thinkthose I have men-tioned would profit especially by reading it. And I should like to confirm this general recommendation with a number of quotations, but I have only sufficient space to refer to the question of our dealings. with workers. On this subject, which is certainly of great interest to all of us, Father Cronin writes (p. 360): "Problems connected with a living wage and the dignity of labor should be a special concern of priests and religious who are in the position of employers. In the past, our record in this regard has not always been good. Church institutions have at times been no-torious both for low wages and arbitrary practices, such as the dis-charge of workers who have given most of their lives to an institu- 94 March, 1951 BOOK REVIEW8 tion, and who are let out either because of old age or a change of administration. Cynics have remarked that some in our midst apply vows of poverty to workers, even though Canon Law makes no pro-vision for vicarious acceptance of religious vows. Undoubtedly, such situations occur with the best of motives. Church institutions rarely have adequate funds, so that their administrators understand-ably try to economize in the attempt to have the most money for the primary purpose of the venture. This would be especially true for schools, institutions of' charity, and even some parishes. Yet charity should not be served at the expense of justice. We should give good example in regard to the social teaching of the Church as well as in matters of piety. "Many bishops now require that wages and working conditions be considered in letting construction contracts. It would be most desirable that when bids are let, the award go, not to the lowest bidder absolutely, but to the lowest bid from a reputable firm which pays decent wages and treats it workers fairly. Likewise, the Church as employer cannot afford to lag behind in other phases of industrial relations, such as proper hours, working conditions, grievance ma-chinery, seniority provisions, protection from arbitrary discharge, se-curity for old age, and such normal features of reasonable employ-ment. These are usually matters of justice, not works of superero-gation. We should be more reluctant than lay employers to seek excuse from such obligations on the grounds that we cannot afford to meet them."--G. KELLY, S:'J. THE NUN AT HER PRIE-DIEU. By Roberf Nash, S.J. Pp. 298. The New-m~ n Press, Wes÷mlnster, Md., 1950. $3.00. This meditation book for Sisters contains an introductory chap-ter and forty-six meditations. The meditations are constructed along the lines of preludes and points; but the two preludes are called "Setting" and "Fruit," and the points are simply called "parts." Each meditation has three parts; and each begins with a preparatory piayer and ends with a summary of the points and a tersely-stated (sometimes only half-stated) thought called a "tessera.'" There is no colloquy; the nun is left perfectly free to formulate her own Oh's and Ah's at the conclusion of the meditation. The meditations contain too much matter for a single hour of prayer. The author recommends making them in parts, then re-peating; hence the book should furnish food for prayer for approxi- 95 BOOK REVIEWS Reoiew for Religious mately a year. The content is solid; the subjects are diversified; the treatment is sufficiently bright to ward off sleep during the time of preparing points. The book seems particularly apt for those who fol-low the method of "reflective reading" in making their meditation. And for those who prefer other met.boris of prayer to formal medita-tion it should be an excellent spiritual reading book. --G. KELLY, S.d. RECRUITING FOR CHRIST. By Godfrey Poacje, C.P. Pp. viii ~- 193. The Bruce Pu'bllshin9 Company, Milwaukee, 1950. $3.00. I opened this book with genuine enthusiasm. I had heard of Father Poage's splendid work in the promotion of religious and priestly vocations and I had seen his excellent booklets, Follow Me and Follow Him; and I expected something superb. But I closed the book with a feeling of disappointment. There is much wheat; but there is not a little chaff that should have been carefully removed before the book was published. The Introduction describes the tremendous need for more priests, Brothers, and Sisters,. and insists that there are vast numbers of latent vocations to meet this need, but these vocations must be fostered. The author concludes the Introduction by saying that it is already too long. I should say that it is too short. It is the best part of the book, and never once in the succeeding chapters does Father Poage rise to the same height. Subsequent chapters discuss the meaning of vocation to the priesthood and the religious life, the signs of such vocations, and ways of finding them among both boys and girls. There follow chapters offering suggestions to priests, teachers, and religious supe-riors for the successful promoting of vocations. There is an appendix on vocational clubs, an 1 1-page annotated bibliography of vocational literature, and an index. The book is replete with illustrative sto-ries taken from the experience of the author and of other successful promoters of religious and priestly vocations; and its main value consists in the lessons that can be learned from these actual experi-ences, The suggestions for teachers and priests should be very helpful; but I think that much of the chapter entitled "Suggestions for Supe-riors" will hurt or embarrass superiors, especially women. For example, there is the section dealing with the apparel that girls are 96 March, 1951 BOOK REVIEWS told to bring to the postulancy. It was with "bashful, bachelor eyes" that Father Poage (who seemingly had obtained the lists by pretending to be a girl aspirant) scanned these lists; and it is unfor-tunate that bashfulness did not guide his written comments. Concluding the paragraph about ill health as a barrier to a reli-gious vocation, Father Poage states summarily, "Invalids are not wanted." Besides sounding too harsh, this statement seems to need qualification. One purpose for which St. Francis de Sales founded the Visitation Order was to give certain types of invalids an oppor-tunity of serving God in the cloister. I do not have the exact words of the constitutions at hand, but the Catholic Encyclopedia says: "He exl~ressly ordered the reception at the Visitation not only of virgins but also of widows, on condition that they were legitimately freed from the care of their children; the aged, provided they were of right mind; the crippled, provided they were sound in mind and heart; even the sick, except. those who had contagious diseases." This is not the least of the charities for which the Catholic world blesses Francis de Sales. And I,,believe there are other institutes that are willing to waive certain physical disabilities in otherwise acceptable candidates. Regarding illegitimacy, Father Poage writes: "An invalid union makes the child illegitimate. This is an impediment to the priest-hood and religious communities." This is partly an oversimplifica-tion of the canon law on illegitimacy and partly incorrect. A child is legitimate when conceived of either a valid or a putative marriage. Moreover, if one who was born illegitimate makes solemn religious profession, he is by that fact legitimated, "and this would remove the irregularity for receiving Holy Orders without the need of a dispen-sation. As for entrance into religion, canon law does not make illegitimacy an impediment. I believe this should be specially noted, because many religious seem to have an erroneous notion in this mat-ter, When illegitimacy is an impediment to entrance into a certain institute, it is so by reason of the constitutions of that institute and not by reason of the. general law of the Church. And, even when an institute makes illegitimacy an impediment, superiors in the United States can generally obtain a dispensation from the local ordinary. It is understandable that a book which offers almost innumerable practical suggestions wouId offer some that would be open to dis-agreement. Father Poage calls attention to the fact that girls often enter the novitiate with the habit of smoking and he suggests that 97 BOOK REVIEWS Review for Religious superiors "obligingly set aside a smoking period for those who need it." Perhaps the phrase "for those who need it" places this sugges-tion beyofid controversy; yet I am inclined to think that those who need it would be rare indeed and that they might very obligingly do their "tapering off" before they enter the postulancy. Father Poage and I would practically reverse positions regarding ,association with the opposite sex before entering religion. He believes that aspirants to the priesthood or the religious life should cease associating with the 6pposite sex. And he apparently means not merely regular company-keeping with one individual but even dances and parties that include both boys and girls, for he tells one girl: "This does not mean you are to cut out" all fun and gaiety. Have a good time-~but with the girls and not the boys!" No doubt one could give good arguments to substantiate this view from documents of the Church and from the practice in some countries of having boys in apostolic schools and seminaries from their tender years. The Church encourages this, it is true. Nevertheless, normal social life at home or in a ~boarding academy or college is not the same as life in an apostolic school or seminary. And, at least generally speaking, it is part of the normal life of our high school and college boys and girls to attend parties and dances. A prospective vocation which could not hold out through such normal and wholesome associations would hardly be a true religious vocation, it seems to me. Obviously, I am not saying that there is nothing incompatible between planning to enter religion or a seminary and at the same time continuing an exclusive companionship with an individual of the opposite sex. Nor do I sponsor the advice that a boy or girl who has not heretofore associated with the opposite sex should "have a fling at it" before going to the novitiate or the seminary. But I see no need of discontinuing wholesome and general mixed-group rela-tionships merely because one is thinking of or planning on entering religion. Others may, and very likely do, think differently. The point is worth discussion. A final comment--a"fixed idea" of mine, if one will have it that. Throughout the book and even in his generic explanation of "voca-tion," Father Poage limits the term to a call to the religious life or the priesthood. In doing this he is conforming to a very widespread and popular notion of vocation. Yet I think that this restricted use of the term is both theologically inaccurate and psychologically harm-ful. Theologically, the term should embrace all states of life: and 98 March, 1951 BOOK REVIEWS psychologically it is immensely beneficial to use it as referring not only to the priesthood and the religious life but also to marriage and the single life in the world.--G. KELLY, S.J. PATROLOGY, I: THE BEGINNINGS OF PATRISTIC: LITERATURE. By Johannes Quasten. Pp. xvlii -I- 349. The Newman Press, Westminster, Md., 1950. $S.00. Up to the present, our patrologies have usually been works pub-lished in a foreign language and then translated into English. Now it is a pleasure to welcome a patrology published in English. It is also a pleasure to welcome a patrology which is the last word in sci-entific scholarship, interestingly written, and ~vhich always keeps, to the fore the needs of English-speaki.ng leaders. This first volume covers the beginnings of patristic literature. After an introductory chapter, the author takes up the Apostles' Creed and the Didache, then the Apostolic Fathers, Apocryphal Lit-erature, Christian Poetry, the Acts of the Martyrs, the Greek Apolo-gists, Heretical Literature, 'and Anti-Heretical Literature. The opening chapter is an admirable introduction to patrology and an up-to-the-minute and scholarly guide to research in this field. Besides dealing with the concept and history of patrology, the con-cept of a Church Father, and the language ' of the Fathers, it gives bibliography on the various branches of Ancient Christian Literature and on the doctrine of the Fathers, and lists editions and translations of Patristic texts. Then in each succeeding chapter an outline is given of the respective authors; each individual work'is studied and analyzed; to this is added information dealing, with the text, trans-lations, and studies of the documents; finally the outstanding fea-tures of the theological thought of the documents are discussed. Certain aspects of the work call for special consideration. An outstanding feature is its thoroughness. There is no document, in this early period or no problem concerning these documents for which one has not now a competent guide. A feature that is most welcome is the generous coverage of the theological thought of the authors. Thus--to illustrate--the thought of Irenaeus is presented on the Trinity, Christology, Mariology, Ecclesiology, the Primacy of Rome, the Eucharist, Scripture, Anthropology, Soteriology, and Eschatology. Finally, a new feature (which has long been desired) is seen in the copious excerpts from these ancient writings. The author is not content with telling what a certain writer thought, but 99 Book REviEws Review for Religious he lets him tell us in his own words. This isa feature that partly explains the interest and readability of this volume; it is this that makes the book not merely something which we use to consult, but something which we want to read for the joy found in reading it. It is easy to see how a book of this kind can be of great help to religibus. Those engaged in teaching patrology, dogma, or liturgy have a work that will aid them in research and in preparing their classes. No longer need we despair of having a patrology text that will interest students; no longer need the patrology manual be regarded as something as dry as dust. The religious engaged in teaching college have here a book that will have to be found on their reference shelf, a book "that will be very helpful in answering ques-tions about the Ancient Church. Finally, all religious will find here background for a better understanding of works which all through the ages have been spiritual classics; e.g., the Eetters of St. Ignatius of Antioch, the Acts of the Martyrs.--ALFRED C. RUSH, C.SS.R. RELIGIOUS SISTERS. An English translation of Direcfolre des Sup.erl. eures and Les Adaptations de La Vie Religieuse. Compiled by A. .Pie, O.P. Pp. xli -~- 313. The Newman Press, Westminster, Maryland. $3.s0. Superiors, spiritual directors, and retreat masters who have good eyes will welcome this helpful, inspiring work. The book grew out of two symposia to help the religious women of France meet prob-lems created by modern conditions. The papers prepared by diocesan and religious priests werd first printed in La Vie Spirituelle. In the English edition the French article on psychology was replaced by the article by R. E. Havard, an English doctor. The book has five sec-tions: the theology of religious life, the office of the superior, the knowledge required by a Superior, the vocation and training of reli-gious and adaptations in modern religious life. When ~sked what she thought of the book, a religious superior who had read it answered that she had bought three more copies, in-cluding one for her Mother Provincial. She also said: "I found Religious Sisters most helpful, excellent. It is clear, complete, yet concise, and the high spirituality makes it a real inspiration. If I do not do a better job as superior now, I will not have the excuse I had before reading it. I cannot say any of the ideas were entirely new, but the detailed application of the principles and elements of reli-gious life were, in a number of instances, so new that I do not feel I 100 BOOK NOTICE$ have absorbed them in one reading." More readable print is certainly desirable and also a book of the same calibre that grew from American conditions, but in lieu of both, the book is recommended. The benefits derived will compensate for the temporary snow-blindness that results from reading the soft, light print.--J. BREUNIG, S.J. ,~OOK NOTICES OUR CHRISTIAN DIGNITY, by L. Semp~, S.J., adapted from the French by C, Vrithoff, S.J., is a little'work, comprising nine confer-ences in the form of dialogues between a priest and two young men, which could serve as a'highly informative and inspiring introduction to the grandeurs of the supernatural life. In a way that is both popu-lar and theological it presents the principal aspects of the Christian's deification by grace, and at the same time make,~ them so many most potent motives for actu,.ally living up to the sublime dignity that it confers. Thus it would provide spiritual reading of the best kind: full of dogma for the mind and of consequent force and enthusiasm for the. will. (Catholic Press, Ranchi, India, i945. Pp. 98. Rs. i.) THE TWELVE FRUITS, by C. J. Woollen, is no mere theoretical explanation of the fruits of the Holy Ghost, but a concre.te, practical exposition of the effects which these fruits should produce in every Catholic. As a 'result, the book makes interesting and profitable spiritual reading. In dealing with the fruits a writer is faced with a real problem to distinguish patience from longanimitg and mildness or to show how continencg differs from ebastitg, but the author suc-seeds in making plausible distinctions between them. More. emphasis is placed on the fruits as effects to be produced by their possessor than on the benefits which accrue to him .from their, possession, though this second aspect is not entirely neglected. The chapter on patience is particularly well done. (New York: Joseph F. Wagner, Inc., 1950. Pp. viii ÷ 184. $2.50.) GUIDE IN MENTAL PRAYER, written 'by the Very Reverend Jo-seph Simler, fourth superior general of the Society of Mary (Marian-ists), was intended originally for use within that congregation. But others also came to know about it and to find it helpful, and now in this revised English edition it is mad~ available to all. No one 'book on mental prayer is ideal for all the very different mentalities of 101 BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS men and women who cultivate that difficult art, but this one, simple, practical, and definite, should, it seems, prove very useful to many. It promises success to all who really have good will. A point that it emphasizes particularly is the importance of faith for growing in the ability to meditate. (A Grail Publication, St. Meinrad, Indiana, 1949. Pp. 167. $2.00.) In J~_SUIT BEGINNINGS IN NEW MEXICO Sister M. Lilliana Owens, in collaboration with two Jesuits, presents the first of a series entitled "Jesuit Studies--Southwest." The book is an ungarnished historical account. A hitherto unpublished diary of the mission of New, Mexico comprises half of the book. [El Paso, Texas: Revista Catolica Press, 1950. Pp. 176. $2:00 (cloth); $1.50 (paper).] A very valuable addition to .the literature on vocation is VOCA-TION TO THE PRIESTHOOD: ITS CANONICAL ~CONCEPT, A Histori-cal Synopsis and a Commentary, by .Aidan Carr, O.F.M.Conv. Dr. Cart investigates his problem from the po!.nts of view of history, theology, and canon law. His conclusions se~m to clarify and syn-thesize what was best in the pri.ncipal p.revio;is works on the subject. Directly or indirectly this study should be a precious aid to the many men and women who teach boys and thus have something to do with fostering and discerning divine calls to the holy priesthood. (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 1950. Pp. viii + 124. $2.00.) , BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS [For the most part, these notices ate purely descriptive, based on a cursory exam-ination of the books listed.] BOOKMAN ASSOCIATES, New York. Like Clean Winds. By Sister Louise Agnes Morin, C.S.J. An-other convincing contrast to I Leap o~;er the Wall. "The story of a Sister who entered the convent to give herself to God and was not surprised to find what she sought--a life of renunciation." The book is illustrated by Michael Lyn Genung. Pp. 63. $2.25. Savonarola. A verse play in nine scenes by Wallace A. Bacon. This play won the Bishop Sheil Drama Award of the. National Catholic Theater Conference in 1946. Pp. 128. $2.50. CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY PRESS, Washington, D. C. Orestes Brotonson's Approach to the Problem of God. A critical 102 March, 1951 BOOK ANNOUNCHMHNT$ examination in the Light of the Principles of St. Thomas Aquinas. By the Reverend Bertin Farrell, C.P. A dissertation. Pp. xiii ÷ 140. $1.75. THE GRAIL, St. Meinrad, Indiana. The Familg Rosarg for Children. By Urban Paul Martin. A Sister of Charity has significantly illustrated the purpose, history, and method of praying the Rosary, as well as each of the fifteen mysteries. This booklet will help boys and girls understand and pray the Rosary. Pp. 71. $1.00. Watchu~ords of the Saints. A Thought for Each Day of the Year from the Writings 6f the Saints. Collected by Christopher O'Brien. Pp. 73. $1.50. Our .Ladg's Slave. ;The Story. of Saint Louis Mary Grignion De Montfort. By Mary ~abyan Windeatt. Illustrafed by Paul A. Grout. Pp. 201. $2.~. B. HERDER BOOK COMPaNY,'St. Louis, Mo. Art and Beauty. By Maurice De Wulf. Translated by Sister Mary Gonzaga Udell, O.P. In this volume a philosopher of re-nown considers the basic principles of art. Pp. ix q- 213. $3.00. THE NEWMAN PRESS, Westminster, Maryland. Catechism o~: the "'Summa. Theotogica'" o~: Saint Thomas Aqui-nas. By R. P. Thomas Pegu~s, O.P. Adapted from the French and done into English by Aelred'~q'hitacre, O.P. A condensation of the Summa in catechism form. A reprint of the work first published in England in 1922. Pp. xvi + 315. $2.75.' Shepherd oF Untended Sheep. By Raoul Plus, S.J. Tia.nslated from the French by Sister James Aloysius. and Sister Mary Generosa, Sisters of Divine Providence. This is the first biography in English of a Vincent de Paul of the eighteenth century, John Martin: Moye, priest of the Society of the Foreign Missions of Paris, missionary to China, and founder of the Sisters of Divine Providence. Pp. xv 180. $2.50. ST. FRANCIS BOOK SHOP, Cincinnati 10, Ohio. Walk with the Wise. By Hyacinth Blocker, o.F.M. This book presents forty-eight storles from the live's of the saints in very pal-atable capsule form. The treatment is marked by originality, fresh-ness, and a relevance to the present day that cannot b~ missed. Pp. x + 240. $2.75. 103 COMMUNICATIONS Reuieto for Religious THE SENTINEL PRESS, 194 E. 76th St., New York. People and the Blessed Sacrament. By Martin Dempsey. Our Lord never wanted the devotion to the Blessed Sacrament to stop in the vestibule. Father Dempsey shows how the Eucharist can influ-ence the entire lives of all: the bootblack, the doctor, the housewife, the college student and so forth. Should be good material for Forty Hours talks. Pp. 95. $1.50 [cloth] : 50 cents [paper]. JOSEPH F. WAGNER, INC., New York. Make Way for Mary. By the Rev. Ja'mes J. McNally. With a foreword by the Most Rev. Christopher J. 'WeldOn, D.D. A series of talks deriving from the Gospels of the Sundays of the year and showing the place of Mary in the Catholic's life. Pp. 272. $2.75. Commun{cal:{ons Reverend Fathers: In reply to,y.o.ur note concerning information on the question of vocations from Catholic Colleges which appeared in the November issue Of R]EVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, the following is presented. The statistics are given under the headings suggested in the letter signed "A Teaching Sister" and represent, as requested, the last ten years. ~,, Education Contemplative Social WorE 1941 ~, 4 0 0 1942 6 0 I 1943 5 0 0 1944 , .6 I 0 1945 IO 0 0 1946 13 0 0 1947 9 0 3 1948 4 I I 1949 15 I I 1950 13 I I Total 85 4 7 Left II 4 0 74 0 7 Total to enter religious life 96 Number to leave IS Persevering 81 104 March, 1951 COMMUNICATIONS The facts have been listed for each year because we feel they are significant of changes made in 1940. During that summer, under the direction of our Very Reverend Mother Marie de St. ,lean Mar-tin, O.S.U., Prioress General of the Ursullnes of the Roman Union, a study of the Traditions of the Orderwas made in the light of con-temporary problems. (cf. Ursuline Method or: Education, Marie de Saint Jean Martin, O.S.U., Quinn ~3 Boden Company, Inc. 1946.) It might be well to sthte that these changes were not made all at once but gradually and not without difficulty-. Under the heading of, creating a Catbolic Atmosphere and assuming that we are striving to give a profound intellectual formation, they may be summarized thus: ~ 1. Religion Courses centered in Christ;'a course in Church His- . tory in junior year; a course in the spiritual life in senior year. 2. Liturgy: Missa Cantata and Compline sung daily by those who wish to participate; on Sundays and feast days Vespers and Compline. ~ ~3. Oppqrtunity for daily confession and spiritual direction. Daily meditations are made for those who wish to learn how to meditate; these are followed by special written 'ones and gradually, with help, many students make a daily meditation. 5. Guidance: each student is given or chooses if they wish a spiritual mother. 6. Sodality: limited to those who desire to lime an interior life and to participate in the apostolate. 7. Specialized Catholic Action.: Young Christian S~udents. It is to be noted that the statistics reveal .an increase .in religious vocations with the classes which were the first to graduate under the new policy.--MOTHER MARIE THERESE CHARLES, O.S.U. Reverend Fathers: In response to your invitation to correspondenc.e regarding the article on "The Deafened Religious" in the oNovember issue, I should like to share some good news. There is fenestration surgery now to cure the type of deafness known as otosclerosis. Any otologist can diagnose this mose prevalent kind of deafness. Nearly every large city has a surgeon trained by Doctor Julius Lempert of New York, who perfected the operation some twelve years ago. It consists in making a new window in the inner ear bone to connect with the auditory nerve. Although a most delicate operation requiring some 105 QUESTIONS AND/~NSWERS ' Ret~ie~ for Religious time to recover, it is worth all the misery of accompanying sea sick-ness, due to drilling through the equilibrium center. I was losing my hearing for twenty-three years and wore-a hearing aid for twelve years. Doctor Howard P. House, 1136 West Sixth Street, Los Angeles 14, California, performed such skillful surgery on both my ears in successive summers, that I now have normal hearing. I was able to discard the hearing aid after the first operation. Much of the success would normally be due to the condition of the nerve, hence it is important to have the surgery done as soon as otosclerosis is detected, before the. auditory, nerve begins to atrophy. I find that this operation is comp.aratively unknown, so I should like to broadcast the almost miraculous .results to your readers. I cannot be grateful enough to God, Doctor House and my community for my return to normal communication. It is a new life. --S~STER M. CATHERINE EmEEN. S.H.N. ( ues ions and Answers ~7~ May a local superior who had been appointed for one year to fill out the incomplet.ed term of his predecessor, and who was then reappolnfed local superior for. one three-year term, be now reappointed for another immediate term ~:F three years in.the same house? If not, may he be ap-pointed for an additional two years to make up a' fatal of six years? Canon 505 forbids the same religious to act as local superior of the same community for more than two terms of three years each. The emphasis in the text "term of three years" (triennfum) is not on the word term, but upon the entire phrase--term of three years. The Code does not forbid three terms of two years each, but excludes more than two terms of three years each in the same house, that is, more than six continuous years as local superior on the part of the same religious. In the case mentioned, therefore, the superior may be reappointed to a new term of two years, which will complete the six continuous years allowed him in the same house. 8 If a religious under temporary vows develops bad.health, or becomes a mentalcase, and, as a result, is refused perpetual vows, is the commun- 106 March, 1951 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ity to which he belonged bound to take care of him after sending him away.'? What if his physical or mental condition was doubtful during the novitiate and he was allowed to make his tempo'rary profession as a trial to see how he would make out? Once a novice is allowed to make his profession of~first tempo-racy vows, poor health, whether physical or mental, is no longer a reason for refusing either a renewal of temporary vows or the pro-fession of perpetual vows, much less al reason for dismissal (see can-ons 637 and 647, § 2). Hence superiors may not allow a novice t

Issue 10.3 of the Review for Religious, 1951. ; Blesssed Claude Colombiere and Devotion !:he Sacre bleart: C. A. Herbst, S.d. 44~rHIS is he whom. I send thee." Margaret Mary heard these | words interiorly as she sat listening to the first instruction Father Claude de la Colombi~re gave the Visitandine com-munity at Paray-le-Monial towards the end of February, 1675. Here was the fulfillment of a promise. Our Lord had appeared many times, asking her to promote devotion to His Sacred Heart. Over-whelmed at the thought, "My sovereign Master had promised me shortly after I had consecrated myself to Him that He would send: me one of His servants, to whom He wished me to make known'. according to the knowledge He would give me thereof, all the treas-ures and secrets of His Sacred Heart which He had confided to.me. H~ added that He sent him to reassure me with regard to my interior way, and that He would impart to him signal graces from His Sacred Heart, showering them abundantly over our interviews." (Autobiography of St. Margaret Mary, .Visitation Library, 1930. No. 80.) That the Sacred Heart, the heart of Margaret Mary, and the heart of the young Jesuit should be united in love, Our Lord. showed the Saint in a vision. "As I went up to receive Him in Holy Com-munion, He showed His Sacred Heart as a burning furnace, and two 6ther hearts were on the point of uniting themselves to It, and of being absorbed therein. At the same time He said to me: 'It is thus My pure love unites these three hearts for ever.' He afterwards gave me to understand that this union was all for the glory of Hi,s Sacred Heart, the"treasures of Which He wished me to reveal to him that he might spread them abroad, and make known to others their value and utility. To this end He wished we should be brother and sister, sharing equally these spiritual treasures." (Ibid., No. 82.) The Extraordinary Confessor "'So it was according to a very special providence of God that Father Colombi~re was appointed superior of the small Jesuit com-munity in Paray ~arly in 1675. Our Lord wanted him to bethe sympathetic, enlightened, and fearless director of Margaret Mary and 1'13 C. A. HERBST Review for Religious the first public promoter of devotion to His Sacred Heart. Named extraordinary confessor to the convent, he came on the Lenten Ember Days towards the beginn{ng of March, .1675. Margaret Mary herself relatds what took place on that occasion. "Although .we had never either seen or spoken with each other, the Reverend Father kept me a very long time and spoke with me as though he understood what was passing within me. But I would not in any way ope, n my heart to him just then, and, seeing that I wished to withdraw for fear of. inconveniencing the community, he asked me if I would allow him to come and speak with me again in tl~is same place~ But in my natural timidity which shrank from all such communications, I re- .plied that, not being~ at my own disposal, I would dO whatever obedience ordered me. I'then withdrew having remained with him about an hour and a half." (Ibid., No. 80.) She was still timid, uncertain, afraid. But shortly after, her superior, M~re de Saumaise, "having had him return, ordered our virtuous sister to talk to him, in order to reassure herself as to what was taking place in her" (Gauthey, Vie et Oeuores, ~i, 133). Mar-garet Mary continues: "Before long he again returned, and although I kn~w it to be the Will of God that I should speak with him,, I nevertheless felt an extreme repugnance to be oblig(d.to do so. I'told him so at once. He replied that"he was very pleased to have given me an opportunity of making a sacrifice to God. Then, without trouble~or method, I opened my heart and made known to him my inmost soul, both the good and bad; ,whereupon he greatly consoled me, ~issuring me that there was nothing to fear in, the guidafice~of that Spirit, since It did not withdraw me from obedience; that I ought to follow Its movements, abandoning to It my whole being, sacrificing arid :imhaol~i~ myself according to Its good pleasure . Having mentioned some of the more special favors and .expressions of love which I received from this Beloved of my soul, arid which I refrain from describing here, he said that ~n all ~his, I had great cause to humble .myself and to admire the mercy of God in my regard." (Autobio~rapby~ No. 81.) First Dis'closure This was the first time she had ever told anyone of the revela-tions of the Sacred Heart to her. "I assure you," .she wrote later, "that it was to this good Father that I made the first disclosure. My sovereigri Master ordered m~ to do so. He showered on him on this 114 ' Mag, 1951 BLESSED CLAUDE COLOMBII~RE occasion more graces than He had ever given him before." (Vie et Oeuvres, II, 543.) ~ But humiliations came, too. "The Reverend Father himself had much to suffer on my account. For it was said that I wanted to deceive him and mislead him by my illusions, as I had done others. He was, however, in no way troubled by what was said. but con-tinued none the less to help me, not Only during the short time he remained in this town, but always. Many a time I have been sur-prised that he did not abandon me as others had done, for the way in which I acted towards him v~ould have repulsed any other." (Autobiography, No. 81.) Here indeed was put to the test the promise ~he had made to God of never doing or omitting through human respect anything that he thought to be' for the glory of God. Behold This Heart In June, 1675. during the octave of Corpt~s Christi, Our Lord made the last great revelation of His Sacred Heart to Margaret Mary. "Behold this Heart, Which has loved men so much. that It has spared nothing, even to exhhusting and consuming Itself, in 6rder to testify to ~hem Its love: and in return I receive from the greater ~number nothing but i.ngrati~ude by reason of their irreverence and sacrileges, and by the coldness and contempt which they show Me in this Sacrament of Love. But yghat I feel-the mo~t keenly is that it is hearts which are consecrated to Me that treat Me thus. Therefore, I ask of thee that the Friday after the Octave of Corpus Christi be set apart for a special Feast to honour My Heart, by communikating on that day and making reparation to It by a solemn act, in order to make amends for the indignities which It has received during thb tim~, It has been e~posed on the altars. I promise thee that My Heart shall expand Itself to shed in abundance the influence of Its divine love upon those who Shall thus honour It, and cause It to be honoured." (Autobiography, No. 92.) Here was a clear statement, a bitter complaint, a definite and manifold request,-and a rich promise., And yet, what could a poor timid young nun in the cloister do about it? "'And when I replied that I knew not bow to accomplish what He bad so long desired of me, He told me to address, myself to His servant, .Wh, om He had sent me for the accomplishment of this design. Having done this, he (Father de la Colombi~re)~ ordered me to commit to writing all that I had .made known to him concerning "the Sacred Heart of Jesus, as well as several other thing,s.~whicb referred to It for the greater glory C. A. HERBST Review for Religious of God. This Was a cause of great ~omfor~ to me, as this holy man not only taught me how to correspond to His designs, but also reas-sured me in the great fear I had of being deceived which was a con-stant trouble to me."' (Ibid., No. 92.) The Guide for Falterin~l Steps So Father Colombi~re was ~be answer. He would guide her fab tering steps.and encourage her. T, he Life by' her contemporaries ex-pands the" narrative. "Address yourself to My servant, Father de la Colombi~re, Jesuit, and tell him for Me that he should do all in his power to establish this devotion and give this pleasure to My divine Heart. Let him not be discouraged by the difficulties he will en-counter, for they will not be wanting. But he should know that he is all-powerful who, putting off confidence in self, trusts i,mplicitly in Me." (Vie et Oeuvres, I, 138, 13.9.) It takes great courage and great spiritual insight to guide a mystic soul, especially when a riew devotion is to be introduced into the world through this soul. But "Father de la Colombi~re was a man of fine discernment. 'He was riot a man to g!ve credence to anything easily. But he had too striking proofs of the solid virtue of the per-son who was speaking to him to have the slightest fear of delusion in this matter. He accordingly took' up at once the ministry whikh God had just committed to him. In order to acquit himself of it effectively and perfectly, be decided to begin with himself. He ac-cordingly consecrated himself (together with Margaret Mary and only~ a few days aft+r the great apparition) completely to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. He offered It everything in himself he thought capable of honoring an'd pleasing It. The extraordinary graces Which he received from this practice soon confirmed him in the esteem which he already bad of tbeimp6rtance and solidity of this devotion." (Ibid.) These Three Hearts Thus it was that "My pure love t~nites these three hearts for ever." M~rgaret Mary and Father Colombi~re bad truly become "brother and sister, sharing equally these spiritual treasures." But he must spread tl~e fire, too, as much as his little world and the 'short time allowed. "Though. he remained but a short time in the town, he never ceased inculcating this devotion in all his spiritual daugh-ters. He had them receive holy Communion in honor of the Sacred Heart on the Friday after the Octave of Corpus Christ." (Ibid., 116 Ma~l, 1951 BLESSED CLAUDE COLOMBII~RE 138, 139.) His apostola~te would become more extensive in another land. Late in the summer of 1676 Father Colombi~re was sent by his sunperiors to England to be confessor to th.e eighteen-year-old Mary of Modena, Duchess of York. He 'left Paray towards the latter part of September. Naturally, Margaret Mary.could not but have a sense of foreboding and feel the loss-of him very much, but Christ's "my grace is sufficient for thee" of another day brought her the same courage and strength it did St. Paul. "I received this blow with perfe.ct submission-to the Will of God, Who had allowed him to be of such use to me during the short time he had been here. When I ventured afterwards to reflect upon my loss, my Divine Master forth-with reproved me, saying: 'What! am I not sufficient for thee, I Who am thy beginning ~and thy last end?' This sufficed to make me abandon all to Him, for I was convined that He would not fail to provide me with'everything that was necessary." (Autobiographg, No. 93.) A Threefold Warning Before leaving Paray, a note from her was handed Father Co-" lombi~re. It contained a three-fold warning from heaven for him who was truly going to be a sheep among wolves. "1. Father de la Colombi~re's talent is to lead souls to God; therefore the devils-will do all in their power against him. He will meet with trouble,~ even from persons consecrated to God, who will not approve of what he says in his sermons t"o convert them; but in these crosses the goodness of God will be his support, so .long as he continu,es to trust in Him. 2. He must have a compassionate gentleness for si~nners, and only use severe measures when especially inspired by God to do so. 3. Let him be particularly careful not to separate good,from its source. ~This sentence is shortl but contains much which God will enable him to understand according to the diligence with 'which he applies himself to find its meaning." (Sister Mary Philip,,A Jesuit at the English Court, 115.) J , He accepted this note a~ a message from heaven. Although contained almost as many mysteries as it did words," he would be shown in his London retreat during the second half of January, 1677, its immediate and immensely~practical and detailed usefulness. "Truly," he ~wrote February 7, 1677, "Our Lord left nothing more to be said. There was (in that note) saving advic@ against all the evils that could befall me" (Vie et Oeuvres, I, 142). "These were " 1 17 C. A. HERBSr Review ior Religious counsels to fit p~sent circumstances and°'remedies against thoughts and plans that were troubling me and that were Very much opposed to those of God" (Ibid.). And later: "That helped very much to steady me. For I was tempted to abandon everything for fear of an outburst which might give scandal and wound charity" (Ibid.; 143). "The'note from Sister Alacoque strengthens me very much and gives me reassurance in a thousand doubts which come to me every~day" (Ibid., 144). It is x;ery clear that a few enlightened,words from Margaret Mary were helping her director to make his soul ready to be a great apostle of the Sacred Heart. Colorobi~re's Consecration By the time his retreat of 1677 ended, Father Colombibre was prepared to give himself over' fully and solemnly to the Sacred Heart. Six months before at Paray he had consecrated himself in a simple way to that Heart.' Since then, much light and. many graces had come to him. Under the influence of these he had slowly and care-fully, determined that, from now,on~ his life would be c6mplet'ely "dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. "This offering is made' in order to honour that Divine Heart, 'the seat of all virtues, the source¯ ¯ of all blessings, and the refuge of all holy souls . In reparation 'f~r so many outrages and for such cruel ingratitude, most adorable and amiable Heart of Jesus, and to avoid as far as I can such a mis-fortune, I offer .to Thee my heart, with all its movements. I give myself entirely to Thee, and henceforth I protest most sincerely that I desire to forget myself and all that. relates to me, in order to remove any obstacle which might impede an entrance into this Divine Heart, which Thou hast the goodness to open to me, and into which I hope: to enter, to live. and die there with Thy most faithful servants, penetrated and inflamed with Thy~love. I offer to this H~art all the 'merit and all the satisfaction of all the Masses, pkayers, acts of mortification, religious practices, acts of zeal, of humility, of obedience, and of all the other virtues which I shall practise until the. last moment of my life. I do so not only to honour the Heart'of Jesus and its admirable dispositions, but I also humbly beg Him to accept the entire oblation which I make to Him, to dispose of it ,in the manner which shall please Him, and in favour of whom pleases . " (A Jesuit of the E.nglish Court; 125, 1"26.) His offering and his retreat end with a prayer to the Sacred Heart. "Sacred Heart of Jesus, teach me perfect forgetfulness of self, since 118 M a~ , 1951 BLESSED CLAUDE COLOMBII~RE , this is~the only way one can enter into Thee. Since everyth!ng.I shall do in the future will be Thine. grant that I may do nothing unworthy of Thee. Teach me what I'must do to obtain pule love for Thee. that pure love for which Thou ha~t inspired the desire in me. I feel within me a great desire of pleasing Thee and an even greater powerlessness of doing so without very special light and help. These I can obtain only from Thee. Do all Thy will in me. 0 Lord. I well know that I oppose,It, but I'earnestl~ desire not to do so. "Thou must do everything, divine Heart of Jesus. and oTbou alone shalt have all the glory of my sanctification if I-become holy. That appears to me as clear as day. All this will. bring gr~at glory to Thee, and it is for that alone that I desire to be perfect.Amen." (A. Haman, Histoire de la D~votion au Sacr~ Coeur, III. 296) The apostle was now immolated to the most Sacred Heart of Jesus. The apostle at once set to work. He wrote from London soon after: "I knew that God wanted me to serve Him by obtaining the accomplisbment of His designs with regard to the devotion which He has revealed to a person He communicates with very intimately. For this it has pleased Him to make use of my weakness. I have alreadY, inspired many people in England with it. I have also written of it to France and asked one of my friends to spread it in the place where he is. This devotion will be very useful there, and the great number of chosen souls in this community leads me to think that its practke in that fervent house will be very pleasing to God." (Georges Guit-ton, Le Bienbeureux Claude La Co[ombi~re, 444.) First Sermon on Sacred Heart March 24, 1677, the third Wednesday of. Lent and th%~ve, of the feast of the Annunciation, Father Colombi~re thought the hour bad come for him to speak publicly of devotion to the Sacre, d Heart, In his sermon, On .the Patience of Jesus'Suffering, he invited his hearers in St. James palace: "Let.us enter into the Heart of the Son of God and see what are Its sentiments with regard to His enemies. .They are sentiments of indescribable sweetness. Note their various degrees and effects. All He suffers from His persecutors does not pre-vent Him from excusing them. He knows they are acting through ignorance, and no matter how great .their envy, human respect, self interest, barred, pride, injustice, and the intensity of their wrath, this Heart, full of goodness, is eager rather to excuse and diminish the 'gravity oftheir sin than to make them more guilty . .~. Jesus.not 119 C. A. HERBST Reuieto for Religious only excuses His executioners. He is moved with deep compassion for them. He bewails their blindness and the evils they are drawing on themselves. - He says in His Hearti 'If thou didst but. know in this thy day the things that are to thy peace.' He knows that the evils that befall Him are scarcely evils'at all compared with theirs. 'Weep not over Me ' Jesus is moved with love for His enemies. , He feels a real and efficacious compassion for them. He prays for them, He suffers for them, He suffers for them with tenderness. He wishes to save them, and He does so. His prayer, is not in vain. These same souls are the ones converted by the sermon of St. Peter . Let the Heart of Jesus be our teacher, our school. Let us make our abode in this Heart during this Lent. Let us study Its every movement and endeavor to conform ours to them. Yes, divine Jesus, i want to live in this Heart. I want to pour all my bitterness into It. TlSere it will be consumed. I do not fear that impatience will attack me in this place Of refuge. There in perfect security I shall exercise myself in.silence, in resignation to the divine will, in invin-cible constancy. Every day I shall offer prayers of thanksgiving for the crosses Thou sendest me and ask Thee to give grace to those who persecute me . " (Oeuvres du R. P. Claude de la Cotombi~re, VI, '249-251.) ~ This was the first sermon ever preached on devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in its modern form. It is remarkable how it re-echoes the virtues expressly mentioned by Our Lord as characteristic of His Heart the one and only time He expressly mentions that Heart in the gospels: "Learn of me, because I am meek and humble of heart" (Matt. I 1:29). Around this same theme and these same sweet and consolii~g words ~3f Christ the Church has built one of h~r most. poPular and' practical p~rayers to th,e SaCred Heart: "Jesus, meek and humble of Heart, make my heart like unto Thine." English Queen's Request 4. Father Colombi~re remained two years in London. There he continued, in public and in private, to promote devotion to the Sacred Heart. The prime object of his zeal naturally would be his spiritual child, Mary, Duchess of York, later (1.685-1688) Queen ¯ of England as wife of James II. She was the first royal conquest for the devotion. Exiled after 1688 and living in France, ~he was the first royal personage to petition the Holy Father for the establish-ment of a solemn feast in honor of the Sacred Heart.of Jesus, for 1~20 May, 1951 BLESSED CLAUDE COLOMBII~RE which Our Lord Himself had:asked. A feast'in honor of the Sacred Heart was not granted because of the many difficulties of the times, but on March 30, 1697 "the Sacred Congregation of Rites, in response to the~urgent request of Her Most Serene Maiesty, Mary, Queen of England, has graciously grar~ted the Nuns of the ~Visitation of the Most Blessed ,Virgin of St. Francis de Sales that in their churches each. year on the Friday following the octave of Corpus Christi not only priests attached to their churches but others also coming there on this day may celebrate the Mass of the Five Wounds of Jesus Christ." His Holiness, Innocent XII, approved.this decree April 3, 1697. ( Histoire de la D~votion art Sacr~ Coeur, III, 375.) Not until 1765 was a Mass of the Sacred Heart approved. In 1856 it was extended to'the whole Church and in 1929 raised to the rank - of a feast of the first class. Accused in England of taking part in a conspiracy, the queen's chaplain was arrested and imprisoned about the middle of November, 1678, and "exiled" to France. Ill and very weak from tuberculosis and imprisonment he passed through FranCe in slow stages, arriving in Dijon about the end of January. There his old friend from Paray, M~re de Saumaise, was mistress of the Visitandine novices. He bad to address them, of course. One of them, Sister Jeanne- Madeleine Joly, wbuld one day compose the first collection of prac-tices of piety in honor of the Sacred Heart and make one .of the first images of It. He told ~this Sister: "Anyone striving to spread this devotion will do a wonderful work for the glory of God." Sojourn at Paray Early in January, 1679, he had order0d Margaret Mary by letter to make to the Sacred Heart "a testament or donation without re-serve, in writing, of all that she could do or suffer, of all the prayers and spiritual goods anyone should offer for her during her life and after her ,death" (Vie et Oettt;res, I, 172). Father Colombi~re himsclf was to sign this if her superior refused. Towards the end Of Febru-ary he appeared in Paray in person, and spent ten' happy and fruit-ful days there, reassuring Margaret Mary and her new superior, M~re Greyfi~, with regard to the revelations of the Sac~ed Heart. When he arrived at Lyons March 23, he wrote "Our Lord taught me some days ago to make Him a sacrifice even greater still: to be de-termined to do nothing at all, if that be His will." While. taking his native air in the country at Saint-Symphorien ,121 C;. A. HERBST Review/:or Religious he wrote, as June 1, I679, feast of ~Corpus Christi, approached, to the superioress of the Visitation at.CharoHes: "I am writing you today only to urge you to have your whole commuhity~ make a special Communion, the day after the octave of Corpus Christi, not for my intention, but to make reparation, as far as lies in your power, for all the irreverences committed a.gainst Jesus Christ d_uring the whole octave He is exposed on our altars throughout the Chris-tian world. I assure you that this manifestation of love will draw down great blessings upon you. I advise you to continue this prac-tice all your life." (Le Bienheureux Claude La Colombi&e. 624.) He had hardly returned to Lyons at the end of May when he wrote his sister Elizabeth: "This practice was recommended to me by a persom of extraordinary piety. She assured me that all,those who ,gave Our Lord this mark of love would draw great profit" from it, Try gently to draw your friends to do the same thing. I'hope more communities will begin this devotion this year and continue it . always." (Ibid.) 'His Stairi~ual Son, Father Galliffet Somewhat recovered," Father Colombi~re was made spiritual father to some sixteen young Jesuits studying at Lyons during the two scholastic years 1679-1681. In one of these, Joseph de Galliffet. he,was to llve again. This man's great spiritul influence, knowledge of tbeolbgy, and gentle persevering way in spreading devotion to the Sacred Heart were to overcome many an obstacle put in its way. Half a century later, in the preface to his book, The Excellence of the Devotion to the Adorable Heart of Jesus Christ, he wrote: "In 1680, on leaving the noviciate, I had the good fortune of coming under the spiritual direction of Reverend Father Claude la Colombi~re, the director God had given Mother Margaret, then still living. It is from this servant of God that 'I received my first instructions on the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ. I began then to appre-ciate and love it." F~ther Galliffet's book, still a classic on dev, otion to the Sacred Heart, is the voice of Father Colombi~re coming down to us through the years. He was removed from Lyons, very ill and weak, to Pa.ray in August, 1681. Naturally, he communicated with Margaret Mary. About November first.he writes: "Our Lord told her that, if I were well, I would glorify Him by my zeal, but that now, being ill, He is glorifying Himself in me." But Paray was no place for the sick 122 May, 1951 BLESSED CLAUDE COLOMBII~RE man either, so his brother sent a corn, fortable carriage to remove him to Vienne. It was January 29, the feast of St. Francis de Sales, a day dear to both himself and Sister Margaret. A note came from her: he should not leave Paray if he could remain without being dis-obedient. In writing he asked why: in writing he received an an answer. He stayed. Of what happened the next ten days we know nothing. Febru-ary 15, 1682,'at seven o'clock in the evening, he died of a violent hemorrhage. He was forty-two years of age, had been a Jesuit twenty-two years. At five o'clock next. morning a friend carried the news of his death to Margaret Mary. "Pray for him, and get Others to pray for him," she said. But at ten~o'clock the sarrie morning she sent a note: "Weep no longer. Pray to him. Fear nothing. He is more powerful to help you now than ~ver." Sister Margaret begged her friend to do all in her power to get back the last note she had sent Father Colombi~re. But the Jesuit :superior absolutely refused to surrender it, saying he had rather hand over all the archives of the house. To explain, he read it to her. "He has told me that it is here He wishes the sacrifice of your life," it said (Vie et Oeuores, I, 499). The Sacked Heart wanted His "faithful servant and p,erfect friend" tomremain always in Paray. The Retreat Brings Deootion to the Public The Retreat Father Colombi~re made in London in 1677 was published two years after his death. It became at once the great in-strument for promoting the devotion to the Sacred Heart, as it con-tained the great revelation "Behold this Heart . " and his act of consecration and prayer to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. His sanctity threw a halo around the devotion Sister ,Margaret"was trying to propagate, and his words that the revelatiofl was made "to a person with whom He communicates very intimately" pointed clearly to her. To her great humiliation, the Retreat was read in the dining room at Paray, but that removed prejudice against the devotion there. She concealed herself behind the Retreat. "We found this devotion in the book of the retreat of ReverendFather Colombi~re." she.wrote, "whom everyone venerates as a saint. I do not know whether 'you know him, or if you have the book of which I am speaking. But it would give me great pleasure to send it to you." (Vie et Oeuores, IE 324, 325.) "You would scarcely believe the good effects It (th( Sacred Heart) produces in 'souls who have the good fortune to know of It through this holy man who himself was 123 C. A. HER~3ST Review for Religious altogether devoted to It and lived only to make It loved,, honored, and glorified" (1bid., 328). Devotion to the Sacred Heart "is spreading everywhere through the medium of the Retreat of Rev-erefid Father. Colombi~re (Ibid., 476). Many decades later Father de Galliffet would say of the Retreat: "It was the first means Our Lord used to make public both the .revelation and the devotion to His Sacred Heart." Colombi~re's Intercession in Heathen Father Colombi~re continues ih heaven the mission begun here on earth of propagating devotion to the Sacred Heart~ Consoling his old friend and hers in difficulties she met with in spreading the devotion, Mother Margaret wrote Mother de Saumaise: "It ought to be a great consolation to you to have so close a union with the good Father' de la Colombi~re. For by his intercession in heaven he is re-sponsible for what is being done here on earth for the glory of the Sacred Heart. Bear up courageously, therefore, under all these little contradictions." (Ibid., II., 427.) "We must address,ourselves to His faithful friend, the good Father de la Colombi~re, to whom he has given great power and to whom, so to speak, He has:handed over whatever has to do with this devotion. I assure you in confidence that-I have received great help from him, even more than when he was here on earth. For, if I am not dece!ving myself, this devotion to the Sacred Heart has made him very powerful in heaven, 9nd has raised him higher in glory than everything else he did during his whole life." (Ibid., 551.) The Society of Jesus, Father Colombi~re's order, was to have a special place in promoting devotion to the Sacred Heart. In a vision of July 2, 1688 Margaret Mary saw the Sacred Heart, the Virgin Mother, St. Francis de Sales, the Daughters of the Visitation, and Father Colombi~re. After confiding to the care of the Daughters of' Holy Mary the precious treasure of the Sacred Heart, "turning to the good Father de la Colombi~re, this mother of goodness said: 'As for you, faithful servant of my divine Son," you have a great share in this precious treasure. For if it is granted the Daughters of the. Visita-tion to know and propagate it, it is reserved to the Fathers of your Society to make its utility and value known and understood, so that all may profit by it." (Ibid., 406.) Apostle of the Sacred Heart ¯ The process for the beatification of Father Claude de la Colom-blare, of the Society of-Jesus, was begun in 1874. He was declared 124 May, 1951 BLESSED CLAUDE COLOMBII~RE Blessed in 1929. In the considered judgment of the Church he is "an outstanding champion and promoter of devotion to the most Sacred Heart of Jesus . Given as guide and master to the holy virgin, Margaret Mary Alacoque, he directed her in ,a wise and holy fashion, especially with regard to devotion,to the most august Heart of Jesus, which from the beginning had not a few adversaries. Cham-pioning and defending it, he merited to be numbered among it chief promoters and outstanding apostles." (Acta Apostolicae Sedis, 1929, 505.) Holy Church now prays: "Lord Jesus Christ, Who hast deigned to make Blessed Claude the faithful servant and outstanding lover of Thy Sacrdd Heart, grant us, through his intercession, that we may put on the virtues ~ind be inflamed with the affections of this same Sacred Heart." A prayer Sister Margaret wrote on the back of a picture of Father Claude is not so dissimilar to this. "O blessed Father Claude de la Colombi~re, I take you as my intercessor with ¯ the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ. Obtain for me from His goodness the 'grace not to resist' the designs He has on my soul, and that I may imitate perfectly the virtues of His divine Heart." (~r[e et Oeuvres,, II, 826.) BIBLIOGRAPHY Books are listed in the order in which they are cited in the article. Autobiograph'y. Life of Saint Margare~ Mary Alacoque. Written by" Herself. Translation of the Autentic French Text by the Sisters of the Visitation. Rose-lands, Walmer, Kent. Visitation Library. 1930. A small book written by Sis-ter Margaret Mary with great pain under obedience. Simple, intimate, prayerful. Gauthey, Monseigneur. Ed. Vie et Oeuvres de la Bienheureuse Marguerite Marie Alacoque. Paris. Anclenne Librairie Poussielgue. 1915. 3 volumes. Volume one contains Sister Margaret Mary's Life written by her contemporaries, documents of the process begun in 1715 for her beatification, and some minor let-ters, etc. Volume twocontains her autobiography and 140 letters written by her. Volume three contains documents concerning miracles, archives, her superiors, fam-ily and parish. The three volumes are critically edited. Philip, Sister Mary. A desuit at the English Court. London. Burns, Oates and Washbourne. 1922. An excellent and very readable llfe ot~ Blessed Claude de la Colombi~re. Chapter 17 gives the Retreat he made in London in 1677. an appendix is printed the notes of his long retreat made in his third year of pro-bation after ordination. Hamon, A. Histoire de la Ddt~otion au SacN Coeur. Paris. Beauchesne. 1928 --4 volumes (incomplete). Volume one contains a critical life of St. Margaret Mary. Volume two sketches the history of the devotion to the Sacred Heart till the sixteenth century. Volume three deals with the religious orders and outstanding men and women connected with the devotion in France during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, .especially St. orohn Eudes and St. Margaret Mary. Volume 4 outlines the difficulties the new devotion met with and its progress to 1765, when 125 C. A. HERBST ~: " the Holy See'.approved the first Mass in honor of the Sacred Heart. Volume five, still~in prepar~tlon, will ;aarrate the royal triumph., Guitton, Georges. Le Bienbeureux Claude La Colo.mbi~re. Lyon. Librairie Catholique Emmanuel Vitte. 1943. Quite a long and very critical life: he takes even Hereon to task. Quotes heavily from Blessed Claude's sermons, correspond-ence, the documents of his beatification and the archives of the Society of Jesus. Gives thorough religious and political milieu and background of his life and times. Oeuvres du R.P. Claude de la Colornbi~re de la Compagne de dEsus. Lyon. Librairie Catholique de P~risse Fr~res. 1864. 6 volumes. Contains his sermons, retreat notes, correspondence. This, of course, is the great source on which all writers draw. This is an old edition, with paper turnin~g brown, small print and hard to read, but was the only one at hand. The newer edition is by Chattier, Oeuvres Cornpl&es, Grenoble, 1900-1901, 6 volumes. Volume six of this newer edition contains the Retreat and his letters. Acta Apostolicae Sedis, Rornae, typis polyglottis Vaticanis. In this work are printed the official acts of the Hbly See and the various Roman Congregations dealing with the canonization of saints and the like. It is published serially each year. REPRINTS: SINGLE SETS We are now able to sell sets of our reprint booklets for one dollar per set. The set includes on~ copy each of these bo.~klets~ No. 1: Articles on Prayer by Father Ellard; No. 2: Articles on "Gifts to Re-ligious," by Father Ellis; No. 3: Articles on Emotiotial Maturity, Vocational Counseling and the Particular Friendship., by Father Kelly. To order these single sets, please send one dollar and ask [or one set of reprints. Please address, your. order to: The Editors, Review for Religious, St. Mary's Colle~je, St. Marys, Kansas. PLEASE NOTE CAREFULLY The" subscription price of REVI'EW FOR RELIGIOUS is now: $3.00 per year for Domestic and Canadian subscriptions: $3.35 per year for all foreign subscriptions. For further details-please see inside back cover. ~ 126 Franciscan Spiri ualit:y Alexander Wyse, O.F.M. THE personality of Francis of Assisi was at once so singular, so attractive and so powerful that' today, seven and a quarter cen- " turies after his death, it truthfully is as familiar to the world as that of many living notables. His charm is perennial, his in-fluence seemingly indestructible, his life the subject of an exhaustless series of studies. But this persevering popularity is not merely the result of the unusually felicitous biographies that, even from his very age, have not ceased to paint and interpret his life. While he has indeed had the good fortune of a long train of articulate, admirers --some nai've, others penetrating; some objective, more partisan-- his fame rests clearly on the captivating force of his individual char-acter, on the strength of his personal winsomeness. His clients.may contribute to his undying reputation--but they bare success only because Francis himself is too living a figure ever to die. The Influence of St: Francis This fact is fundamental to a consideration of the specific nature of Franciscan spirituality, because in a sense and a measure perhaps unparalleled in any similar instance the individuality of Francis has founded and oriented the Franciscan school. The venerable Benedictine tradition, as an example, has its own distinctive qualities, deriving from the holy Rule. As the source of Benedictinism, that is a singularly unique document--precise, .mas-terly, definitive as a provision fo~ all possible needs of monasticism: but it is not. in any comparable way, a reflection of the personality of Benedict. By contrast, Franciscan spirituality leans but lightly on the several Rules which the Poverello wrote for his friars,-his nuns, and his followers in the world.1 Rather it looks to the person 1As a matter of fact. while he properly wrote no Rule for either the Second or the Third Order he wrote successively two Rules for the First Order, the Order "of Friars Minor. This fact would bear out the contention that the Rule occupies a relatively secondary place in Franciscan spirituality. It likewise helps to explain the ancient division--whlch in centuries past often amounted to very violent dis-sension-- over the meaning and the force of some of the prescriptions.of the Rule, notabl~; poverty. The Holy See had often to intervene in these disputes, had to promulgate official declarations of the true impbrt of, the disputed points, and has sanctioned three autonomous branches of the Order, each interpreting the mind of the Founder with its own constitutions. Since each of the three families looks with equal devotion to Francis. and with.equal right claims him as Founder and Father, in discussing Franciscan spirituality no distinction is necessary because of these diverse streams. 127 ALEXANDER WYSE Reoiew [or Religious of its founder--which, in his lifetime, was so highly original that it could only with difficulty be confined in the legal" terms' of a rule, and, after his death, has remained singularly fresbl highly distinctive, and extraordinarily fruitful. Rooted thus in the individuafity of the Seraphic Saint, the Franciscan school of spiritual theology has about it many of the features which explain the wide appeal of Francis himself.-° The same qualities that made and make him universally loved, make also the spiritual way that derives from him appealing to a vast army of Christians.~ By imitating his delightfully reasonable and joyfully direct methods of reaching God, countless millions through these seven centuries have grown in spiritual" understanding and advanced in mys, tical union. Cbristocentricisrn of Franciscan Spirituality The basic and most far-reaching quality of Franciscan .spiritual-ity is that it is wholly centered about the Incarnate Son of God.4 The positive and avowed attempt to reproduce ~he life of Christ is the simplest summary of the Franciscan vocation--as.Francis put it, "to obs~erve the holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ." Though the imitation of Christ is radically the heart and soul of all Christian 2That there is a rich fruitfulness in Franciscanism is seen'in the large number of saints and blessed who have worn the distinctive three-knotted cord. There are 48 Saints of the First Order, 4 of the Second, and 42 of the Third: there are 112 Blessed of" the First Order, 21 of the Second, and 80 of the Third (of. Acta Ordinis Fratrum Minorum, LXIX, iii, pp. 126~135). Excluding the causes of these beati being promoted for canonization, there are pending before the., Sacred Congregation of Rites or Diocesan Courts the causes of more than 203 members of the First Order, 25 of the Second, and a numberless group of the Third (Ibid., "LXIX, i, pp. 20-34). aThe prihciples of Franciscan spirituality have not ceased to attract enormous num-bers of Christians even in our day. In 1950 the First Order had a combined total of more than 42,000 members; the Second Order approximately 2,000: the Third Order Regular, in its various congregations of priests, Brothers and Sisters, at least 70,000; the Third Order Secular an estimated 2,800,000. ~'For a more extensive treatment of Franciscan spirituality the following studies may be consulted: ValentinSM~ Breton, O.F.M, La Spiritualit~ Franciscaine (Paris, 1948); Vitus a Bussum, OIF.M.Cap., De Spiritualitate Franciscana (Rome, 1949); Pacificus M. Perantoni, O.F.M., "De Spiritualitate Franciscana," in Acta Ordinis Fratrum Minorurn, LXIX, v, pp. 214-243: Agostino Gemelli, O.F:M., "La Spiritualit~ Francescana," in Le Scuole Catrolicfie di Spiritualit~ (Milan, 1949) ; Franciscan Educational Conference, Report of the Eighth Annual Meeting, (Washington, 1926); Philibert Ramstetter, OIF.M., "Introduction to a Francis-can Spirituality," in Franciscan Studies, December, 1942; Valentin-M. Breton, O.F.M., Le Christ de L'Arne Franciscaine (Paris, 1927). Additional ligh~t is to be 'had from the reading of such classics" as Hilarin Felder, O.F.M.Cap. Thd 1deals oF St. Francis of Assisi (New York, 1925)~ Agostino Gemelli, O.F.M., The Franciscan Message to the World (London, 1934), as well as the many standard biographies of St. Francis. 128 May, 1951 FRANCISCAN SPIRITUALITY living, about Franciscan asceticism there is a more distinctive desire and a special effort t6 conform the life of the dedicated one to that of the Incarnate Son of God. In ngthing is the influence of the founder's life and personality more discernible than in this. For Francis, Christ was the center of all things--the focus of all thought, the object of all_ striving, the inspiration of all action. Christ, Francis loved with a consuming passion, as the most tangible proof of God's all-pervading goodness. He could never cease marveling at the divine goodness: it was a theme that both fascinated and transformed him. ]ks he reflected on it, he w~ould~ cry out in the rapture of his contemplation: "Thou, Lord, art the highest Good, the Eternal Good; from Thee cometh all good, and there is no good without Thee." It is primarily and eminently in the Incarnation of th~ Eternal Son that God has shown forth t6 the world that infinite love which is His essential perfection; and this, to Francis, became the most profound and, at the same time, the most penetrable of mysteries. His soul found in it the most, exalted of divine revelations, reaching into the very bosom of the Godhead ~nd manifesting in a singular way God's in.finite life of love. That in God there should be an Eternal Son generated by love, and that the Eternal Father should give this only-begotten Son for the world's redemption, was for Francis the climaxing proof of God's goodness. It opened up to him--as nothing else in all reality could--the depth of charity with which the Creator cherishes every last one of His creatures. For him, it explained all of life and creation ; it served as the foundation for all his spiritual action. "O Lord, we thank Thee," he wrote in the First Rule, "because, just as Thou hast created us through Thy Soft, so also through that true and holy charity with which Thou hast loved us, Thou hast caused Him to be born of the glorious and most blessed Mary,' ever Virgin most holy, and Thou hast Willed that through His cross and blood and death we sinners be redeemed." ./kbove all else, the Incarnation proves God's goodness in that it teaches us how we must live. Jesus is our model, "leaving us an example"; and hence--as Francis saw with an enviable directness-- the ideal of all spiritual striving is that we imitate His steps. This was the desire which burned in Francis' heart for himself and which he held up to his followers. Thomas of Celano says: "His supreme endeavor, his most ardent wish and foremost principle was to observe the holy Gospel in all and above all things, and to follow 129 ALEXANDER WYSE Review for Religious perfectl'y, 'with all zeal, with the fullest ardor of his spirit, with all "the love of his heart, the doctrine of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to imitate His example. In constant meditation he reflected on His Words, and with deep.intentness he pondered on His works.''~ So fruitful was this contemplation, and so completely did Fran-dis succeed in this. holy ambition to imitate Christ, that he is gen-erally admitted to have been a humanly perfect copy of the Master. Renan, the great skeptic, called him the only true Christian after ~Jesus; and (at the other pole of orthodoxy) St. Bonaver~ture cites the imprinting on his body of the stigmata,as heaven's seal on the ~onformity of Francis' life with Christ's. Love--the Well of Action His d~sire to imitate the supernal example of the Incarnate Son of God was nurtured by an ardent love for Him which literally surpasses our capacity. The "Three Companions" tell us of this burning devotion as the source of Francisr spirituality: "From the time,of his conversion to his death, he loved Christ with his whole heart, bearing, the memory of Him constantly in his mind, praising ,Him .with his lips, and glorifying Him in good works.''6 And Celano expatiates the theme: "His tongue spoke out of the fullness of his heart, and the stream of enraptured love which filled his soul overflowed outwardly. Always he was occupied with Jesus. Jesus he carried in his heart, Jesus in his mou~th, Jesus in his ears,. Jesus in his eyes, Jesus in his hands, Jesus in all his members.''v This attachment to his Saviour revealed itself by Francis' con-stant- preoccupation with the details of the sacred life of the Lord. He had a wholly special attachment to the. feast of Christmas, observing it with a transporting joy and a moving piety. For him it was the feast of feasts--and, if it has become that also for after-generati. ons, his part in making it such is not inconsiderable. He found a fathomless proof of God's love in His condescending to become Man. That the Incomprehensible, the Unchangeable, the Infinite One should humble Himself so wonderfully for our sakes," demonstrated the measureless extent of God's love for us. Not con-tent with having the vision for himself, he longed to make the whole world aware of it. Whether or not it can be demonstrated his- 5.Thomas de Celano, Legenda Prima (Rome, 1906), n. 84. STies Socii, Legenda (Foligno, 1898), n. 68. ~Op. cir., n. I15. 130 May, 1951 FRANCISCAN SPIRITUALITY torically that he did give us the first Christmas crib, it is certain that he had a leading role in helping to establish the custom,s Perhaps more than any other of our popular Christmas observances, in making visible to us the tenderness of the Birth of Christ the Crib has served to establish in the hearts of Christians a new under-' standing and appreciation of the love of God for the human race; in spirit, at least, it is the product of Francis' intense love of the Christ- Child. At the other terminus of that divine life, the saint likewise found another strong motive to honor the love of God for man. His rever-ence for the Passion of Christ colored his whole think~ing; moulded his whole devotion. From the day when he heard the mysterious voice from the crucifix at San Damiano bidding him repair the Church which was in ruins, to that climax of seraphic love in the Five Wounds of the Redeemer imprinted on his body, the sufferings of 3esus were ever before his eyes. Early in his religious life he was one day walking along the road, bathed in tears, expressions of the most profound sorrow issuing from the depths of his soul. When someone asked" him what he was lamenting, he answered that he was weeping for the sufferings of hi's Lord. Moved by the unction and the sincerity with which the saint uttered these words, the other, too, began to weep and sigh in com-passion for the suffering Son of God. This" is more than an anecdote from his legend--it is a symbol of the vast influence of St. Francis in riveting the attention, first, of his followers, and then of all Chris-tianity, upon the Passion of Christ. For it is true that Francis by his devotion to the sacred sufferings has conferred upon Franciscan spirituality a truly distinctive mark. At the same time, by reason of this new note of tender and human feeling which Francis intro-duced into~or, at least so effectively propagated within--Catholic devotional life, he served to give a new orientation to the spiritual life of the whole Church.9 By stressing, as his own character demanded, the element of love in his approach to God, and by 8Cf. Stephen M. Donovan, O.F.M., The Catholic Encyclopedia (New .York, 1913), sub verbo "Crib," IV, p. 489. 9Francis, of course, did not completely disrupt the traditional lines of devotion in the Church. nor did he accomplish the new orientation singlehandedly. Following by less than a century the age of St. Bernard, he solidified the notable contribu-tions of the great Abbot of Clairvaux toward establishing a love and affection for the humanity of God's Son. For a brief summary of the inter-relation of Bernard and Francis in this" spiritual revival, cf. Philip Hughes, A History of the Church (New York, 1935), II, pp. 306-307, 403-404. 131 ALEXANDER WYSE Review for looking more fixedly upon those aspects of God's relations with men which show forth the divine benignity and condescension, he rekindled in the hearts of men the flame of divine charity. He taught his followers--and the world--to serve God, in a special way, out of regard for the love which God has first shown us. Christocentric Theology/ Francis made the love of God--as proven by the Incarnation of Christ---the basis for his whole system of living. More philo-sophical minds than his would expand this notion into a whole explanation of reality[ The idea which Francis established by his preaching, his prayers, his very act of living, his more learned fol-lowers took and worked into a theology that begins and ends with Christ, the fruit of divine love. The concept of the glorification of the Ingarn~ate Son of God-- which Francis instinctively felt and lived--becomes in Franciscan theology the explanation of all things, the prime motive for the cre-ation of the world. Christ, God made Man, in this system was the First Thought of the Creator; He was destined, before the fall of our first parents, before even the making of the world, to receive the homage, the love, th~ service of the human race. All creatures what-soever enjoy the gift of being in view of the preordained Incarnation of the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. The supreme mani-festation of God's love and power in the Person of the God-Man was to raise up to the life of the Trinity the'human brothers of Christ. In an excess of divine benignity, God conferred upon the human race the riches of the supernatural life--but with, in, and thrgugh Christ, the Head of all things. It was thus that human creatures, endowed'with intelligence and free will, were predestined to share in the personal life of God. In Christ they were willed and destined and called to glory.~ In view of that .high vocation they were elevated to a supernatural plane by the foreseen graces merited for them by 3esus Christ. That man should have failed to correspond to God's purpose in creating him does not, in Franciscan theology, militate~ against God's primary motive in decreeing the Incarnation of His Son. True, historically, Christ did not come as the King of Glory to receive in His earthly days the adoration and the homage of the world; He came rather as the Man of Sorrows, the suffering Redeemer, the Messias making satisfaction for our sins. Yet this but further illus-trates and enhances God's love. In permitting His Son thus to come, 132 May, 1951 FRANCISCAN SPIRITUALITY to suffer and die on the cross for our redemption, God showed forth His love in a still more striking fashion. Thus in Franciscan theological speculation, as developed by the masters of the school, St. Bonaventure and especially John Duns Scotus, Christ assumes the central position which He already occu-pied in the thought and the life of the unlettered Poverello. All things depend on Him, all things grow through Him, all gifts come from Him to all beings. There is no merit, no promise of eternal life, no blessedness which does not derive from Him. From the part of God, any offering, any virtue, any prayer, has value only insofar as it reflects Jesus Christ. From the part of man, no one arrives at the divine union, no. one knows God, no one serves or pleases the Creator, except through Christ, the Firstborn, the Center and Head of all things. Franciscan theology furthermore eschews the notion of God as the strict Judge demanding vengeance and satisfaction, and sees in Him rather the loving Father who grahts to the Son the privilege of the Incarnation for His human brethren, together with the right to restore them to supernatural life. The Saviour is not so much the victim of divine justice, as He is the friend who, out of love for His Eternal Father and His brothers in the flesh, sacrifices Himself to atone for men's sins. The Passion and the Cross are, in this view, not so much the price demanded for human redemption as they are the yoluntary outpouring of divine love, setting the tone and the pat-tern of the relations between God and man. Povert~l' For all these reasons, as Francis of Assisi insisted, though with-out himself ever formulating his thoughts in such theological termin-ology, there is need of penance and mortification and a voluntary crucifixion on the part of those who know and would repay God's love. If God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, and if the Son so loved us that He willingly emptied Himself of His glory and became obedient even to the death of the cross," there can be little choice for a creature except to imitate that self-sacrificing love and surpassing abnegation. As a logical cohsequence, therefore, of these considerations the three basic qualities 6f Francis-can ascetiscism are generated: poverty, humility, and mortification. In the sixth chapter of the Second Rule of the Friars Minor, St. Francis' speaks of "the sublimity of the highest poverty which has made you, my dearest brothers, heirs and kings of the kingdom 13~3 ALEXANDER WYSE Reoieto t~or Religious of heaven: poor in goods, but exalted in virtu(." In these few words he succinctly demonstrates the pivotal importance which the Fran-ciscan ideal attaches to the observance of poverty as a means of reaching eternal life. Tl~e voluntary stripping oneself of the things of this earth and all attachment to them predisposes one to the practice of all other virtues which, spelling perfection, infallibly lead to ever-lasting l~appiness. Accepting as the most literal truth the promise of the Beatitudes: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs i~ the king-dom of heaven," the Franciscan world has enthroned Lady Poverty as its queen. She has reigned by the clearest title in the hearts and homes of all those who call Francis "father." St. Clare of Assisi-- that gentle maid who more completely than any other caught Fran- Cis' holy enthusiasm for this Seraphic virtue par excellence--success-fully resisted even the efforts of the Holy See to take away from her what she called "the privilege of poverty." St. Bonaventure refers to poverty as "the sublime prerogative" of the Franciscan Order. A thousand examples might be cited, from the bulging Seraphic chron-icles, of this undying fealty and devotion to poverty, for in a true sense this attachment to Lady Poverty is the history of the order. Her saints have been great, her reformers have been virtuous, .her life has been varied and at time even exuberantly stormy--simply because, in days of fervor as of decadence, the haunting image of "that noble and queenly, that most beautiful of women" whom the Poor Man of Assisi made his bride has never ceased to fascinate the Franciscan soul. If the Order of Friars Minor has been divided into three autonomous groups, this has been because the sons of Francis have never failed to be interested in the question of poverty, and have always wanted to safeguard and the more truly cherish that heritage which is the "'privilegium paupertatis," the "'nostii ordinis praeroga-tioa sublimis." The Franciscan views poverty, as a privilege because it enables him the more perfectly to reproduce ~the life of'the Incarnate Son of God. He was po,or; He deliberately chose the privations of a work-ingman's home for Himself and labored as a carpenter. He had nowhere to lay His head. "Being rich, He became poor" for our sakes. This is the source and the inspiration for the unflinching attachment .to this virtue that Francis conceived: as he is made to say in the hauntingly beautiful Salutation of Poverty, she was with' Christ, God's Son made Man, in all the hours of His life, and when _all other, abandoned Him she mounted the cross with Him, to 134 May, l~51 FRANCISCAN SPIRITUALITY embrace Him as He hung dying.1° Struck with the truth of the sanctifying power of this virtue so closely the companion of Holi-ness Incarnate, St. Bonaventure, expresses the traditional Franciscar~ ideal when he praises poverty as the very source and fountainhead of evangelical perfection, 'and the first ]~oundation of the entire edifice of .spirituality. Humility The abasement of the Incarnation must find its counterphrt in the life of him who would grow up to thd stature of Christ. "Humil-iavit semetipsum," said St. Paul of the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity--and the words re-echoed in Francis' heart with a new and challenging meaning. If Christ could deprive Himself of the glory that was His everlasting and inalienable due, Ought nor the creatures "redeemed by His sacrifice at least avoid all vainglory, all frivolous pride, all empty self-seeking? Francis admonishes his friars to .appropriate nothing to themselves; they must even beg for the neces-sities~ o[ life--"noi should they be ashan~ed, because the Lord made Himself poor for us in this world." With a true understanding of human nature, Francis recognized his own sinfulness, his proneness tb evil, and his entire dependence upon God for the grace to save him from eternal damnation. So, likewise, he exhorted his friars to be always mindful of their lowli-ness and nothingness. Especially those constituted in high places-- preachers, superiors, the learned-=-he exhorted to remember that, of themselves, they are nothing, and that any dignity, any influence, any learning they possess is theirs by the donation of God. The superiors of his brotherhood are "ministers and servants of the other friars": the fraternity:itself is the Order of Lesser Brethren. Repeatedly Francis praised and cited poverty ands humility, holding them up as the double cornerstone of the Franciscan life: "Let all the brethren strive to follow the humility and poverty of our Lord 3e~us Christ." Humility is the companion of poverty,, but it is more--it is the perfection of the other virtue in that it reaches into the soul. It strips the mind of all encumbrances of human origin, it cleanses the heart of all man-made ideals and values. It is genuine poverty of the spirit. With a tender tenacity the Francis-can soul holds to this ideal of a humble poverty and a detached 10Though this tender apostrophe to his beloved Lady Poverty" is no longer regarded as a genuine writing of St. Francis, its spirit is certainly authentic. The same thought is expressed by Dante, Dioine Comedy, Paradiso, XI, 64-72. 135 ALEXANDER WYSE Review [or Religious humility. The most learned among the friars have been humble men: St. Anthony in the retirement of the friary at Montepaolo meekly hid' those great resources of theological intuition which lately won for him the title of Doctor of the Universal Church; and St. Bonaventure (at least in the legend which cannot 'have been made up from whole cloth) was discovered washing dishes when the papal envoys came bearing the cardinal's hat. The large number of can-onized Franciscan lay-brothers is assuredly a standing testimonial to the high esteem which the traditions of the order place on humility as a means of perfection: it shows that the life of lowly service of others, so perfect an imitation of Christ's self-emptying, is an inte-gral part of Franciscan spirituality. Mortification The whole idea of Franciscansim being to reproduce the life of the Saviour, positive penance has a palmary place in Franciscan living. The example of the suffering Saviour demands of His fol-lowers mortification and discipline. This universal obligation of Christians is, in Franciscan asceticism, elevated to the status of a positive and primary pursuit, the chief means and the most abiding guarantee of which are '~the poverty and humility of our Lord Jesus Christ." With a holy delight the Seraphic Father embraced this means of becoming more like the Ideal. Frequently he exposed himself to the cold,, simply that he might feel in his members the bitterness of that which nature abhors. In his eating, he refrained from anything over and above what was necessary to sustain life, on at least one occa-sion taking, absolutely nothing for forty days except half a loaf of bread. By the disciplines wherewith he chastised his body he sought to bring into subjection every unruly passion and emotion. If the extreme mortification of the Seraphic Lawgiver ha.s been tempered in the case of his followers (for how many will ever receive the extraordinary inspirations which were his wholly personal gift from the Holy Spirit? or will be called by grace to the degree of poverty and humility and penitential chastisements which have so set him apart?), there is yet incumbent upon all the obligation of a positive mortification in imitation of Christ. His followers have included such paragons of corporal p~nance as St. Peter of Alcantara. who for forty-six years scourged himself twice daily, and St. Felix of Cantalice who took his nightly repose kneeling on the floor after 136 Mag, 1951 FR~kNC[SC~kN SPIRITUALITY his daily rounds of begging in the streets of Rome. Yet, for the most part, a certain mildness (stemming from another no less holy facet of Francis' spirit) pervades the Franciscan concept of discipline. The Saviour Himself bade His disciples not to be sad while the BridegroOm was with them, and Francis instinctively" was one of the most joyous of beings. He arose at midnight to eat with the young friar ,who cried out with pangs of hunger. And he legislated that ordinarily the friars should not be obliged to fast, except on Fridays (a wholly revolutionary concept: for Christian religious), and that .those going through the world might use the Gospel-privilege of eating whatsoever was placed before them. The Noble Function of the Wilt These three qualities of poverty, ,humility, and mortification, constitute what may be termed the negative, the privative (or, in the consecrated terminology, the purgative) steps in Franciscan spiritual-ity. The ascent is completed with the positive and active forces of charity and prayer (which correspond to the unitive and illuminative ways). It is in this phase that Franciscan spirituality attains its perfection and sanctifyihg power. Having learned the boundless extent of divine charity, the Franciscan soul yearns to make a return; in its poverty and humility it has nothing else to give God but a return of love. The next step is the unreserved attachment to God, and limitless devotion to the creatures made by God for Christ. A deep awareness of his adopted sonsbip makes him ready to proclaim wlth,Francis, stripped even of the clothes his earthly father bad given him: "Now I can truly say; 'Our Father Who art in heaven.' " This sense of belonging tb God is fostered and st.rengthened by an ever-deepening devotion to Him in whom and for whom this sonship has been brought about. Thus .Franciscan spirituality, with a new intentnes_s, comes back to Christ, its starting point. Whatever honors, exaltsl and glorifies Christ, that is seen to be a means o~ displaying this charity toward God. Hence the Franciscan emphasis on devotion to the historical Christ-- particularly, as in the piety of Francis himself, to His Incarnation and Passion. Hence also that touching reverence for Christ as He yet lives among us in the Eucharist,11 in the priesthood and tlae- 11Francis' devotion to the Eucharist is one of the most important facets of his spiritual life. Father Felder's treatment of this theme (op. cir., chap. III) is ~specially illuminating. 137 ALEXANDER WYSE Review for Religious Church,12 and in the souls of the redeemed,is The will, the faculty of love, occupies in all Franciscan the- 91ogy, philosophy, and life a unique distinction of I51ace. A l~eritage clearly from Francis himself~with his ardent nature, his impulsive and forthright way of proceeding, his unqiaalified and unlimited dis-play of love for the God-Man--the role of the wilI .is, in the Fran-ciscan tradition, a pivotal one. There is a subtle but profound rela-tion between Franciscan~poverty and the generous use made of the agent of human .choice. Divested of all material things, the Francis-can soul finds itself endowed with "the freedom w.herewith Christ has made us free." No longer tied to the passing things of this earth, neither is it bound to the conventionalities of routine, custom, or society. The Poverello himself was one of the most uninhibited char-acters of history, a man da,ringly original and boldly enterprising. In an ever-expanding resolve to save souls for Christ, his venturesome spirit led him fo distant and dangerous shores, where he fearlessly presented himself to the Sultan before whom all Christendom was quaking. Unashamedly he asked (and obtained!) from the Pope for the little chapel of St: Mary of the Angels that plenary indulgence which had been previously conceded only for a pilgri.mage to the Holy Land. He entered into a holy pact with God Himself, wherein the mortified servant of Christ deserved to feel in his own'~flesh the sufferings of the Crucified. This same quality of directness, of daring, of wilful aiad pur-poseful action is always inherent in genuine Franciscanism, and shows itself no less in Franciscan spirituality. Tamed, modified, kept within reasonable check, it is a characteiistic which eminently befits the ~poor of sp!rit. Stripped of all desire of self-aggrandize-ment, the Franciscan seeks nothing of this world, fears nothing of its powerful ones. He is in a position to use the liberty of the sons of God. In a sort of reeling climax to liberty, he subjects himself to .the most complete obedience to God and God's delegates--for obedience is the ultimate in self-assertion, the wild and r~ckless sac-rificing of the right to self-will. 1-'2Cf. Felder, op. cit., for the testimony of Francis' profound reverence for the Church of Christ (chap. IV). 13Among the outstanding evidences of his zea! for the salvation of souls is the twelfth chapter of the "Regula II." It is one of the chief glories of the Franciscan tradition that Francis was the first founder to propose for his followers the ideal 6f '~going among the Saracens and other infidels." He thus helped to launch the greatest era of missionary activity after the Apostolic Age. 138 May, 1951 FRANCISCAN SPIRITUALITY As the will attains its realization in action, inevitably the Fran- " ciscan vocation is one that stresses the apostolate~ Francis--.t,hough at times his soul craved the sweet delights of withdrawal from the world--discovered that the truest way of imitating the Master was, like Him, to go about, "doing good." In labors for the salvation of others Francis and his order seek to live the GoslSel of our Lord Jesus Christ. "Non sibi soli vivere, sed aliis proficere vult, Dei zelo ductus," the Church sings of him.14 In novel and revolutionary-~often 'in all but unpredictablem ways, the Franciscan spirit uses this liberty to bring all things into the kingdom ~designed, from before the foundation of the earth, for God's Eternal Son. There is indeed a great and challenging diversity of methods in the Franciscan apostolate, just as ,there is a most startling, originality discoverable in the Seraphic hosts. Men and women of rare indiyiduality, of almost unclassifiable "character, ~have pledged themselves to reproduce Christ--in themselves and in the world---by living the Gospel. Can there be in the legends of any othe'r religious institute a man so singular as Brother Juniper? so simple as Brother Giles? so unspoiled as Brother Masseo? Has any" other founder welcomed so enthusiastically into his foundation rob-bers who had infested the countryside? or been succeeded in his very lifetime by one so completely his opposite as Elias of Cortona? The Franciscan spirit can embrace, and Franciscan spiritualit~ does sanctify, with equal impartiality, a Duns Scotus of Oxford Univer-sity and a Benedict the Moor from the scullery of Palermo's dark monas~tery. The royal Louis of Toulouse professed the same Rule as the unlettered Paschal Baylon. The mystical Joseph of Cuper-tino is brother to the energetic Leonard of Port Maurice. It is indeed true that, as has been said, by the variety of its manifestations Fran-ciscanism takes on a character of universality, like Christianity itself, which in the Gospel is likened to a tree to which all the birds of the air may come to make their nests. Prayer ' While stressing apostolic actik, ity as an unceasing tribute to Christ the King, the Franciscart soul does not forget the value of prayer. After the example of the Master, Francis himself often interrupted his apostolic labors to refresh and restore his soul in a period of contemplation. Such contemplation, nonetheless, is 14Breoiariura Rornano-Seraphicurn, In festo S. P. N. Francisci, ad Laudes, Ant. 1. 139 ALEXANDER WYSE designed (as is the poverty and humility of the Gospel) to subserve the apostolic vocation. In contemplation the Franciscan draws "waters with joy out of the Saviour's fountains"-~but only that in his preaching and ministry he may the more efficaciously slake the thirst of those who,~ like the hart panting after the fountains .of water, are thirsting after the strong Living God. Seraphic prayer finds its perfect symbol in the figure of Francis on Mount Alverno, his arms raised in the form of a cross. It finds its truest expression in the fervent and heartfelt prayer of the Poor Man on that mystical height: "Who art Thou, my God most sweet? What am I, Thy unprofitable servant and vilest of worms?''15 In explaining later to Brother Leo, his beloved com-panion, that these words expressed his grasp of the depths of the infinite goodness and wisdom and power of God, and the 'deplorable depths of his own vileness and misery, Francis left a classic outline of Franciscan prayer and meditation. It would, of course, be impossible here to explain the special characteristics of mental prayer and contemplation, as elaborated by the masters of Franciscan spirituality. It must suffice to point out two of its salient points: first, it manifests the common Franciscan dependence on the faculty of the will, being affective rather than intuitive; and, second, in prayer as in all else Christ remains the -center. The subjects of predilection for Franciscan meditation are the various phases of the life of the Incarnate Word, while the affec-tions of the heart are offered to the Eternal Father t~hrough the mediumship of Him who is the Source of all things. The truly Franciscan soul but borrows the words of the Seraphic Father: "Because we all are miserable sinners and are not worthy to call upon Thee, weo humbly.ask our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy beloved Son in whom Thou wast well pleased, together with the Holy Ghost the Paraclete, to thank Thee." lSThe Little Flowers of St. Francis (Everyman's Library), p. 11 1. PLEASE NOTE CAREFULLY The subscription price of REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS is now: $3.00 per year for Domestic and Canadian Subscriptions; $3.35 per year for all foreign subscriptions. For further details please" see inside back cover. 140 Apostolic Constitution Sponsa Christi [EDITORS' NOTE: We present here the positive legislation contained in ,Sponsa Christi, the Apostolic Constitution of Pope Pius XII, given under date of Novem-ber 21, 1950, and published in the Acta Apostolicae 8edis, official publication of the Holy See, under date of January 10, 1951, pp. 15-21. The general statutes from the papal document given below are preceded by a lengthy historical and ex-hortatory introduction on the origin and development of the contemplative life for women consecrated" to God, pp. 5-15. ] GENERAL STATUTES FOR NUNS Article 1 § 1. The term nuns is used in this Apostolic Constitution as it is in the Code (c. 488, 7°). In addition to religious women with solemn vows, it includes those who have pronounced simple vows, perpetual or temporary, in moqasteries where solemn vows are actually taken or should be taken according to the institute, unless it certainly appears otherwise from the context or from the nature of the case. § 2. The legitimate use of the term nuns (c. 488, 7°) and the application of the laws concerning nuns are not at variance with the following: (1) s.imple profession made in monasteries according to law (§ 1); (2) minor pontilical cloister prescribed or duly granted for mo~iasteries; (3) the pe?formance of apostolic works which are joined with the contemplative life either by reason of a provision approved and confirmed by the Holy See for certain orders or by the " lawful prescription or grant of the Holy See to certain monasteries. § 3. This Apostolic Constitution does not affect the juridical status of: (1) religious congregations (c. 488, 2°) and the Sisters who are members of them (c. 488, 7°), who take only simple vows according to their institute; (2) societies of women living in com-mon after the manner of religious and their members (c. 673). Article 2 § 1. The special form of religious monastic life which nuns are obliged to follow carefully and for which they are destined by the Church .is the canonical contemplative life. § 2. The term, canonical contemplative life, does not denote that internal and theological contemplation to which all persons in religious.institutes as well as those living in the world are invited, 141 POPE PIUS Xll Revieto for Religious and which individuals everywhere can lead by themselves, but it sig-nifies the external profession of religious discipline which, by reason of cloister, or the exercises of piety, prayer, and mortification, or finally by reason of the work which the nuns are obliged to under-take, is directed to interior contemplation in such a way that their whole life and whole activity can easily and should etficaciously be imbued with zeal for it. § 3.If canonical contemplative life cannot be habitually ob-served under a strict, regular discipline, ,the monastic character is neither to be granted nor, if it be had already, is it to be retained. Article 3 § 1. The solemn vows of religion which are pronounced by all the members of a monastery or at least by the members o17 one, class constitute the characteristic note in virtue of which a monastery of women is legally considered among the regular orders and not among the religious congregations (c. 488, 2°). Moreover, all the pro-fessed religious women in, these monasteries come under the term regulars according to'canon 490, and are properly speaking not called Sisters but nuns (c. 488, 7°). § 2. All monasteries in which only simple vows are taken can obtain a restoration of solemn vows. Indeed, unless truly grave rea-sons prevent it, they will be solicitous about taking them again. Article 4 While always keeping for all monasteries those character-istics which are, as it were, natural to it, the stricter cloister of nuns which is called pontifical shall in future be distinguished into two classes: major and minor. § 2. i o Major pontifical cloister, namely, that which is described in the Code (cc. 600-602) ,is clearly confirmed by this Our Apostolic Constitution. By Our Authority, the Sacred Congregatio~i of Reli-gious will declare the causes for which a dispensation fromthe major cloister may be given, so that, while the nature of cloister is kept unimpaired, it may more suitably be adapted to the circumstances of our times. 2° Major pontifical cloister, without prejudice to § 3, 3°, must flourish by reason of law in all monasteries which profess the contemplative life exclusively. § 3. i° Minor pontifical cloister will retain those characteristics of the old cloister of nuns and will be protected with those sanc- 142 May, 1951 SPONSA CHRISTI tions which the Instructions of the Holy See expressly define as neces-sary for the preservation and safeguardifig of its natural purpose. 2° Subject to this minor pontifical cloister are the monas-teries of nuns with solemn vows which, by their institute or by legitimate gran~, undertake work with externs in such a way that quite a number of religious and a notable part of the house are habitually devoted to these occupations. 3° Similarly, each and every monastery in which only simple vows are taken, even though devoted exclusively to contem-plation, must be subject at least to the prescriptions of this cloister. § 4. 1° Pontifical major or minor cloister must be considered a ¯ necessa)y condition not only that solemn vows may be taken (§ 2) but also that those monasteries in which simple vows are taken (§ 3) may in the future l~e considered as true monasteries of nuns according .to canon 488, 7°. 2° If even the rules for the minor pontifical cloister cannot be generally observed, the solemn vows which may have been had are to be taken away. § 5. 1° The minor pontifical cloister is to be observed in places where the nuns do not take solemn vows, especially in those points in,which it is distinguished from the cloister of congregations or that of orders of men. 2° Howeve'r, if it is clearly evident that even the minor cloister cannot be observed in an individual monastery, that monas-tery must be changed into a house of a congregatibn or of a society. Article 5 § 1. Among women consecra[ed to God the Church deputes only nuns to offer public prayer to God in her name, in choir (c. 610, § 1) or privately (c.'610, § 3) ; and she places upon them a grave obligation by law to carry out this public prayer daily at'the canon-ical hours according to the norm of their constitutions. § 2. All monasteries of nuns as well as individual nuns, whether professed of simple or solemn vows, are everywhere obliged to recite the Divine Office in .choir according to c. 610, § 1 and the norms of their constiti~tions, § 3. According to c. 610, § 3, nuns who have not taken solemn vows are not strictly obligated to the private recitation of the canon-ical hours when they have been absent from choir unless their con-stitutions expressly provide otherwise (c. 578, 2°). Nevertheless, 143 POPE PlUS XII Reuiew for Religious as was stated above (Art, 4), it is the mind of the Church not only that solemn vows should be restored everywhere but also that, if they cannot be restored for the present, nuns who have simple perpetual vows in place of solemn vows should faithfully fulfill the work of the Divine Office. § 4. In all monasteries the conventual Mass corresponding to the Office of the day according to the rubrics is to be celebrated in so far as this is possible (c. 610, § 2). Article 6 § 1. 1° Unlike other religious houses of women, monasteries 9f nuns are autonomous (sui iurfs) by reason of the Code and according to its norms (c. 488, 8°). 2° The superiors (antistitae) of individual monasteries of nuns are major superiors by law and are endowed with all th~ pow- ,ers which are due to major superiors (c.48'8, 8°), except some that from the context or from the nature of the power would concern men only (c. 490). § 2. 1° The extent of the condition of independence or autonomy (sui iuris), as it is called, of monasteries of nuns is defined by both common and particular law. 2° The juridical guardianship which the law grants tO the local ordinary or to the superiors regular over individual mon-asteries is in no way derogated from by this Constitution or by federations of monasteries allowed by the Constitution (Art. 7) and ,established by its authority. 3° The juridical relations of individual monasteries with the local ordinaries or with the superiors regular continue to be regu-lated by ~he common law as well as by particular law. § 3. This Constitution does not determine whether individual monasteries are subject to the authority of the local ordinary or, within the 'limits of the law, are exempt from it and. are subject to the superior regular. Article 7 § I. Monasteries of nuns are not only autonomous (c. 488, 8°) but also juridically ~ distinct and independent of each other and only united and joined together by spiritual and moral bonds even though by law they be subject to the same first order or religious institute. § 2. 1° The formation of federations is in no way opposed to May, 1951 SPONSA CHRISTI the common liberty of monasteries,'which is accepted as a m.atter of fact rather ,than imposed by law; nor should, these federations be considered as forbidden by law or in any way less in accordance with ¯ the nature and purposes of the religious life 6f the nuns. 2° Though not prescribed by any general law, federations of monasteries are, nevertheless, strongly recommended by the Holy See not only to prevent the evils and disadvantages which can arise from complete separation bug also to promote regular observance and the contemplative life. § 3~. The formation'of every kind of federation of monasteries of nuns or of a union of federation~ is reserved to the Holy See. § 4. Every federation or union must necessarily be ruled and governed by its own laws approved by the Holy See. § 5. 1° Without prejudice to Article 6;§§ 2 and 3. and to the special type of autonomy defined above (§ 1), there is no objection, in the formation of federations of monasterieS, ',to the introduction of equitable conditions and mitigations of autonomy, which may seem to-be necessary or more useful, after the example of certain monastic congregations and orders, whether of canons or of monks. 2° Nevertheless, any types of federation which seem con-trary to the aforesaid autonomy (§ 1) and which tend towards centralization of government are reserved to the Holy See in a special manner and may not be introduced without Its express permission. § 6. Federations of monasteries are of pontifical right according to the norms of canon law both because of their source of origin and - of the authority upon which they directly depend and by which they are governed. § 7. The'Holy See may exercise immediate supervision and authority, as the case may require, over a federation through a reli-gious assistant, whose duty it will be not only to represent the Holy See but alsb to foster the genuine spirit proper to the order and to give superiors assistanc~ and advice in the right and prudent govern-ment of the federation. §8. 1° The statutes of a federation should conform to the pre-scribed norms to be prepared by the Sacred Congregation of Religious by Our Authority and to the nature, laws, spirit, and traditions, whether ascetical or disciplinary or juridicgl and apostolic, of the reli-gious order concerned. 2° The principal purpose of federations of monasteries is 145 POPE PIUS XII Review for Religious to f~rnish mutual fraternal a~sistance not only by fostering the reli-gious spirit and regular monastic discipline, but also by promoting ¯ the economic welfare. 3° Should the case arise, special norms are to be proVided in order to approve statutes through which the permission and moral obligation of transferring nuns from one monastery to another should be regulated when these measures are considered necessary for the government of the monasteries, the training of the novices {n~ a common novitiate established for all or for many of the monasteries, and for other moral or mate}ial needs of the monasteries or of the nuns. Article 8 " § 1. The monastic work, which even the nuns who lead a con-templative life are obliged to perform, should as far as possible be suited to the rule, constitutions, and traditions of the individuaI .orders. ~. § 2. ,This work should be regulated in such a way that, along 'with other sources of income approved by the Church (cc. 547-551, 582) and with the abundant assistance of Divine Providence, it will provide secure and fitting support for the nuns. § 3. 1° Local ordinaries, superiors regular, and superiors, of monasteries and of federations are obliged to use all diligence that the nuns may never be wanting in necessary, adequate, and profitable work. 2° On ~heir part, nuns are bound in conscience not only to earn their doily bread by the honest sweat of their brow, as the Apostle teaches (II Them. 3:10), but they should also make them-selves more skillful day by day in the different kinds of work required by present times. Article 9 In order to be found faithful to their divine, apostolic vocation, all nuns must not only use the general means o~ the monastic aposto-late, but they shall also attend to the following:- . § 1. Nuns who have definite works of a particular apostolate prescribdd in their constitutions or in approved rules are obliged to devote themselves entirely and constantly to these works according to the norms of their constitfitions, statutes, or rules. § 2. Nuns who lead an exclusively contemplative life should observe .the .following: 146 May, 1951 MEDITATION FOR A MOTHER SUPERIOR 1° If, according to their particular traditions, they now have or bare had a special kind of external apostolate, let them faith-fully retain it after having adapted it, without harm to their life of contemplation, to modern needs; if they have lost it, let them dili-gently take means to restore it. If there is any doubt about adapta-tion, let them consult the Holy See. 2° On the other hand, if the purely contemplative life, according to the approved constitutions of the order or its traditions, has never, been joined to the external apostolate' in a permanent and enduring manner up to.the present time, then, only in cases of neces-sity and for a limited time, the nuns may, and at lea~t out of charity should, occupy themselves with those forms of the apostolate, "espe-cially such as are unique or personal, which may seem to be com-patible with the contemplative life as observed in their order according to the norms to .be fixed by the Holy See. h edi!:a!:ion t:or a Nkot:her Superior Mother Mary Elizabeth, D.C. Love knoweth no measure Feareth no labor Maketh sweet all that is bitter Findeth rest in God alone LOVE knoweth no measure, no measure of forgiveness. A group of persons living in such. close proximity as religious must, are keenly aware of the weakness of human nature. They begin to understand why Our Lord on the cross prayed: "Forgive them, for they know not what they do." And if this understanding comes to those who have no special rseponsibility for other souls, how ~rnuch more dearly to those whom God invests with His authority? So the Sister Superior must learn to love without measure, in the sa'me manner as Christ has lo~ved her. It is well to recall that the rulers of the Jews said that Christ was guided by Beelzebub . Superiors follow (or should follow) more closely in the footsteps of Christ, and they musthave His spirit. He dictated a very beautiful com-mand one evening: '"Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." 147 Ma~!, 1951 MEDITATION FOR A MOTHER SUPERIOR Feareth no labor: The superior must never call a moment her own." Her time belongs to the Sisters; consequently there should be no so-called "inter,ruptions" in her life. In. giving herself to the community, either directly to the individual members or indirectly. by her care of the house, she is but doing her duty. She should be the last to think of rest, of ease from work, of consolations. "It is for thee to be the support of tl~y brethren." To be the support, the strength, of the weak, the despondent, the discouraged religious. The superior has to deal with each soul in these categories asa mother does with a sick (or peevish) child. She makes sweet the wood of the cross so that her daughters may carry it willingly, carry it joyfu~ly, and, at the end, triumphantly, to the portal of Heaven. Maketh sweet all that is bitter: To give one's will into the hands of another, a symbol of slavery, is the hardest sacrifice God asks of man. To make light the burden of obedience and to sweeten the bitterness found in community life is the task of the superior of the house. In doing this she will be called upon to. forget herself :i thousand times. In each community the superior should image the Rule. In her the religious should find the peace, the joy of laboring for Christ, and the rest tfiat comes to a contented heart doing all for God. Findeth rest in God alone: Truly this is the only consolation worthy of the name. It is reserved, not to superiors, but to the superior after God's own heart. In distractions often, in cares with-out number, in burdens multiplied, the superior should seek rest only in the Heart of Christ. When the power that comes from God alone was conferred upon her, she was set apart. Not that she was made better than others, not that by the very fact of authority she was made perfect, but only because God delegated to her the power that is His by righ,.t. "'Going-up-into the mountain He called unto Him whom He would . " Not because of the spiritual worth of the individual but only because God wills it is a man or a woman set apart to lead and govern other souls. If Christ called all to come to Him that they might be refreshed, how much more those who are burdened with a greater share of the Cross of the Lord? OUR CONTRIBUTORS ALEXANDER WYSE is the director of the Academy of American Franciscan History, Washington, D.C. MOTHER MARY ELIZABETH is prioress of the Carmel of St. Joseph, Long Beach, California. C. A. HERBST and AUGUSTINE KLAAS are members of the faculty at St. Mary's College, St. Marys, Kansas. 148 Current: Spiri!:ual Writ:ing Augustine Klaas~ S.3. From La Vie Spirituelle IN.THE MARCH .1950 number of La Vie Spirituelle there is an intriguing little symposium on the subject: "It is difficult to grow old." The matter is of current, practical interest for religious, who too must learn the not-so-easy art of growing old gracefully. Doctor H. Muller pres.ents an introductory survey, noting the marked increase in the number of old people, owing to the reduction of infant mortality, the increasingly successful fight against disease, and. other factors, all of which are adding years to the life-span of society's various classes, including religious. (In the U. S. A. since 1900, a period in which the population has doubled, the.number of persons over sixty-five years old has quadrupled, from three to twelve million in the fifty-year period.) Unfortunately, along with an increase in numbers, has Come a noticeable change of status. When the old were comparatively few, they were honored and respected, and their advice was dutifully sought, but the situation has now greatly altered, presenting nev~ problems of adjustment both psychological and social. Also; the old today are too often "bad patients," discouraging attention and affection, precisely because many have not learned how to grow old in a calm, mature .way. When the life-span was barely thirty years, the saying used to be: "Brother, you are going to have to die." Today it is rather: "Brother, you are going to have to get old." You will be old, perhaps ten, twenty, and even thirty years. The prob-lem must be courageously met and solved on the material and~ above all, on the spiritual plane. H. Duesberg draws a charming portrait of the aged as found in the Old Testament, comparing it not unfavorably with the one sketched in the ancient classical writers and those of the Middle and Far East. After an upright, useful life, the aged man is represented as living out his long years with dignity, while at the same time going down steadily and inexorably to the tomb. Old age may be burdensome and subject to various untoward vicissitudes: never-theless, it is always preferable to death, for as Ecclesiastes (9:4) says 149 AUGUSTINE KLAAS Reuieu~ [or Religious somewhat quaintly: "A living dog is better than a dead lion." Old age merits respect and reverence: "Rise up before the hoary head, and honor the person of the aged man" (Leviticus 19:32). Old age is itself the reward for honoring the old, especially one's parents: "Honor thy father and mother . that thou mayest live a long time" (Deuteronom~ 5:16). What splendid examples of old age there are in the Old Testament: Tobias, Sara~ Abraham, Isaac, Joseph, Moses, Samuel, David. Of course, as we might expect, there were also some unworthy old persons, such as the two accusers of Susanna. The old are the living embodiment of the 15ast, particu-larly of the previous generation. Even after they have died they continue to live on in their children and in the memory they leave behind them of their wisdom and experience. Duesberg concludes: "The serenity of the aged ih the. Old Testament is remarkable, for they drew a maximum of confidence and resignation from what they themselves had learned and from what God had taught them." The increasing number of the old presents also an economic problem, a problem of material assistance, which the symposium does not cover. However, Armand Marquisat tells of an interesting association of men, formed in Paris to help solve the social probl,em of the aged. The men call themselves the Little Brothers of the Poor. The group was started by three gentlemen in Paris at Easter 1946: it now numbers over thirty. These laymen, propose to help the old in ev~ry possible way in the places where they live, fre- "quently alone and in need. Some of the Brothers are part-time, others full-time workers, who visit these aged people several times a week, to look after their food, lodging, clothing, medical, and spir-itual care. Professional men and workers of all types are members, and all have placed themselves under the patronage of St. Francis of Assisi. It is a lay institute that vows to serve the aged in this ,very practical, effective, ChriStian way. The symposium, concerned mainly with the spiritual side of the problem, contains a good article by Father Ji Perinelle, O.P., a reli-gious of advanced age and wide experience. He notes that people grow old unevenly. Some keep their mental and bodily faculties intact almost till the very _end; others deteriorate more rapidly and are subject to disease: All experience a certain loss of liberty, a growing dependence on others, and a gradual isolation that does not: lighten their.physical or moral iils. Countering'the~e, there is a tendency among the old themselves to excess in one direction or May, 1951 (]URR~NT WRITING another, and very frequently a pronounced egotism, showing itself in constant speaking onl~ of self and one'Sqlls, or complaining, or demanding that every whim be satisfied, or a lack of gratitude for favors done. Certainly these are not the .proper attitudes that age should bring along with it.' ¯ Old age is'a sthge of life willed by God and like the other stages should contribute to the advancement of one's spiritual good. God governs old age by His Providence; He is all--powerful, all-wise, and all-loving (Rorn. 8:28). The old have the grace at hand to meet the trials of this period of life (II. Corr. 4:16).~ Perhaps St. Paul is the great example of a man growing old in the right way; he did not falter towards the end, but finished victoriously the combat and the race (II. Tim. 4:6-8). Father Perinelle gives some wise counsels for the aging. The first group pertain to the exterior, the second to the interior life. a) Health: Don't become obsessed with care for your health, always an.xiously looking at the thermometer, taking the pulse count, noticing the draughts, etc. Restrict gradually your external activity; live a well~ordered life; keep up a certain minimum of physical exer-cise; attend, faithfully to personal hygiene; watch eating habits; meet weakness~ illness, and finally death itself with resignation and cheer-fulness, as preludes to the call of the Master. b) Work: Keep on doing some real work, physical or mental, at a fixed time every day, no matter how little it may be. But do not persist in doing'work, for which you are no longer fitted. You are not a good judge in this matter; hence listen to the advice of others. Hand over your principal tasks to younger hands, even though this is not an easy thing to do. And don't imp0se.your advice on others, either. Accept the fact that your counsel, when asked, often will not be followed and finally will no longer even be asked for. c) Relations with others: Try to keep in touch with your life-long friends, but do not be locked-up l in the past. Giveyourself generously to the rising generation. Y~u are the bridge between the old and the new. Times change and certainly some real progress is. being made in the wo~ld. Your e.xperience can .contribute to it, if you are not intr.ansigent in clinging to the past. Be like the Catholic Church in this matter, sanely adapting herself to modern conditions. And keep up with the times, if you ~an, but above all keep an open, mind. Read something daily in a slow, reflecting way~ Maintain a 151 AUGUSTINE KLRAS Reoieto for Religious kindly sense of humor in your dealings 'with others. There are two dangerous .attitudes regarding the new members of your religious order or congregation: the first is to have little con-fidence in their capacity and hence to lower the standards of religious life in their favor. This must not be done, but rather a total giving of s~lf must be demanded of young religious. The second wrong attitude is to wish to impose rigidly on the newcomers what you yourself went through. No, prudent adaptation is what is wanted here. Let them prefer reading St. Paul tb reading Rodriguez! And do not attempt to impose inflexibly on the younger generation o.f religious your methods of teaching and apostolate. Guide them, surely, but leave them some initiative of their own. Finally, do not try to appear younger than you really are and thus make yourself ridiculous. Act your age. As for the interior life, remember that God loves the old in a special way because they .are weak and feeble, just as ,for the same reason He has a particular love for children. If you are faithful and prayerful, God will keep you company to your Emmaus when "it is towards evening and the day is now far spent." Two things are to be noted spiritually: you must acquire a spirit of detachment and an understanding or feeling for eternity. All things are passing: the old are very much aware of this. It should make them reflect and pass a true judgment on the fleeting things of time. Past sins must be acknowledged. There must be contrition and penance, but also an immense trust and confidence in God. The o!d feel their poverty-- empty hands after such a long life; God must be their riches now. The old feel their weakness; let God be their strength. They feel powerless to do good; God is now their all. , A sense of eternity must be gradually acquired by the old, for the beatific vision and all that it implies is drawing near. Live in the hope of it; await it longingly. Be humble, be kind, be tolerant of others, pray much, offer up the remaining days of suffering and your Ideath, pray continually throughout the day for y6urself, for your dear ones, for the world, for the Church. See to it that extreme unction and the last rites be administered to you betimes.' Death is the gate,way to eternity: be at peace, cheerful, joyful, expectant. Father A. Masson, ordained recently at the age of seventy-four, likens old age to the season of Advent. It is a time of hope,, ending in a birth. All the Advent liturgy and the prophecies of the Old 152 Mug, 1951 Q~URRENT WRITING Testament can be al3plied luminously to old age. There are three births: the physical one to natural life; the spiritual one of baptism to supernatural life; and the last one to the life of the beatific vision. Are not the death-days of the saints and martyrs called their bi~th-days? Let me close this subject with this little paragraph by Father Sertillanges, O.P., who at the age of eighty-five wrote as beautifully as ever: "For the Christian, old age is not a final farewell to what-ever appeals and desperately clings to our lust for life. Quite the contrary, it is the full growth and final flowering of hope. It is the threshold of what had merely been suggested by t.he springtime of life. It is the first sight of land after an apparently interminable voyage. It is the veil which has been torn from an illusion and exposes to view the supreme realities. Old age is the approach to God. Descent into the grave, since i~ represents, but a partial truth, is an illusion. Rather do we ascend." From Reoue d'Asc~tique et de Mgstique In the January-March 1950 number of Revue d'Asc~tique et de M~tstique there is a seven-article symposium on the general subject: Spiritual Problems of Our Times and Ignatian Spiritualitg. I should like to summarize the article by Father Louis Verny, S.J., on a vital point of Ignatian spirituality, namely, Ignatian prayer, a subject about which there is sometimes misunderstanding and error. The title is "in actione contemplatious," which may be translated approxi-mately: "in action contemplative," or "contemplative in the midst of action," or "contemplative while active." This type of prayer, along with others, is mentioned in a letter of Father Jerome Nadal, S.J., who wasin close contact ~ith Saint Ignatius Loyola for many years. I quote the passage of Nadal's letter from the French of Father Verny: "That prayer is a capital item of prime necessity in a religious institute is most evident. I am speaking of the prayer referred, to in this text of St. Paul: "I will pray with the spirit, but I will'pray with the understanding also" (I Cot. 14:15). It is the prayer which contains, all the phases of spiritual development: the purga-tive, illuminative, and unitive. Wherefore actively, and even avidly, does the Society give herself to it in full measure in Christ Jesus, For there is no one of her members that she does not at first start off .with meditations suited to first conversion and to the putting off of the 153 AUGUSTINE KLAAS Reoieto for Religious old man. Then, by means of contemplations on all the mysteries of Christ ~we seek.to develop ever more in ourselves the realized knowl-edge of Him who is "the Way, the Truth, and the Life." Finally, we find repose in love. What is the necessary beginning of. prayer we find again at its term: charity, the highest and sublimest of the virtues. So that, filled with a very ardent zeal drawn from prayer, we set out for our ministries full of joy in Christ 3esus, with humil-ity of heart, satisfaction, and courage. This is what we draw from the~ book of Exercises. "Although this is no't the time to treat of prayer, there is a fact which I do not wish to omit. Father Ignatius had received from God the .special grace to rise without effort 'to the contemplation of the Most Holy Trinity and to repose in it a lon~ time~ Sometimes he was led by grace to contemplate the whole Trinity; he was 'trans-ported' into it and united himself to it with his whole heart, with ¯ intense sentiments o~ devotion, and a deep spiritual relish. Some-times he contemplated the Father alone, sometimes' the Son, some-times the Holy Spirit. This contemplation of the Most Holy Trinity was accorded him often at other periods of his life, but he received it principally, and almost exclusively even, during the last years of his earthly pilgrimage. "If such prayer was granted to Saint Ignatius, it was a great privilege and of an entirely different order. But "he likewise had another privilege which made him see God present in all things and in every action, with a lively sense of spiritual realities; contem-plative in the midst of action, according to his ordinary expression: finding God in all things. Now, this grace which illumined his soul 'was revealed to us as much by a kind of brightness which emanated from his countenance as by the enlightened sureness with which he acted in Christ. We were filled with admiration for it, our hearts were much consoled by it, and we felt as though the overflow of these graces was descending on ourselves. Furthermore we believe that this privilege which we noted in Saint Ignatius is likewise granted to the whole Society; we are confident that the gift of this prayer and contemplation awaits us all in the Society, and we strongly assert that it is a part of our vocation." Three tfiings are brought out in the text of Father Nadal's rev.ealing letter: 1) ordinary prayer~ and ordinary contemplation, .that is, contemplation in the sense in which it is used in the Spiritual Exercises; 2) infused contemplation, or mystical prayer, with which 154 May, 1951 CURRENT WRITING Saint Ignatius was greatly favored; 3) a state of soul described by the phrase "in action contemplative" or "contemplative in the midst of action," which Saint Ignatius cultivated himself and recommended most highly for his sons, and Father Nadal considered an integral part of a Jesuit's vocation. We are interested here in this last type of prayer, to which Father Verny devotes most of his article. Although it does characterize Jesuit spirituality, it is not for Jesuits only, but can be utilized, at least to some extent, by all.orders and congregations engaged in the active apostolat.e. At the outset Father Verny compares the Jesuit formula "in actione contemplatious . in action contemplativeS' with the forrrfula -of.St. Thomas Aquinas, which can be expressed somewhat like this: "'contemplari et contemplata aliis tradere'" ("to contemplate and to communicate to others .what one has contemplated"). There is some dispute as to whether St. Thomas's formula ref~s to what is technically called the "mixed life," the life of the active apostolate, because it seems rather to accentuate the contemplative element. If it does, it differs from :the Ignatian formula, since the latter certainly puts the stress on the active apostolate. Also, the Thomistic formula seems to refer to alternate activities, namely, to contemplate and then to impart the fruit of one's contemplation, .whereas the Ignatian formula indicates something simultaneous, apostolic action perme-ated with contemplation. Father Verny then takes up the Jesuit formula and has no diffi-culty proving from the Spiritual Exercises and the Formula of the Institute that apostolic action is the vocation of the Jesuit. The Society of Jesus is an essentially active order, a mobile force ready to give apostolic service of almost any and every kind. What is the contemplative element that must permeate its active apostolate? Father Verny says that it can be expressed in two ways, each one implying the other. The contemplative element in the active apostolate is the state of soul resulting from the complete, unconditional, definitive self-surrender to Jesus Christ and total enlistment in H~s cause, spoken of in The Spiritual Exercises. It is begun in the Kingdom meditation, enhanced by the Two Standards, perfected by the Three Degrees of Humility, completed and actuated day after day by the intimacy with Our Lord that is derived from the daily contemplation of Him in the Gospels. This close intimacy with Christ is the fruit of the Second Week, perfected and made more 155 AUGUSTINE KLAAS Ret@to ~or Religious precise in the rest "of the Exercises, and extended throughout life, since the contemplation of the Gospels is a life-long task. It" is renewed every day at Holy Mass and Holy Communion, and in visits to the Blessed Sacrament. It expresses itself in frequent thought of' Christ, confidences, exchange of gifts, and the acquire-ment of a common mind with Christ. It is the asslmilation and "putting on of Christ," who is "the Way, the Truth, and the Life." Father Leonce de Grandmaison calls it "virtual prayer"--a recalling of the presence of God and an actuation more or less'explicit of "that transcendental love which we owe to God Our Lord." He points out some of' its qualities: "apostolic interests placed above selfish interests; divine views over human views; the spirit of Christ pre-ferred to the spirit of the world." This thinking with Christ, this participation in His interior dis-positions, this ever more perfect assimilation and putting on of Christ, can be expressed in a second way, namely, by using the language of the Institute. I cite some of the more important pas-sages. For instance, he who enters the Society of 3esus must take care "always to have before his eyes first God, th~n the spirit of the Insti-tute, which is a way of ascending to Him." Again, the seventeenth of .the Rules of the Surnrnar~ : "Let all endeavor to have a right intention, not only in their state of life, but in all particulars, seeking in them always sin.cerely to serve and please the divine Goodness for itself . And in all things let them seek God, casting off as much as possible all love of creatures, that they may place their whole affection on the Creator of them, loving Him in all creatures and them all in Him, according to His most holy and divine Will." The significant phrases "for the greater glory, of God," "for the greater service of God" constantly recur in the Spiritual Exercises and in the Constitutions. Here is what we read in the preamble to the Election: "In every good Election, as far as regards ourselves, the eye of the intention ought to be single, looking only to the end for which I was ~reated, which is, for the praise of God our Lord . . ." Besides a right intention, a spirit of faith must be had, especially" with regard to obedience. A few selections at random from the Constitutions: "acknowledging the Superior, whoever he be, as holding the place of Christ our Lord." With regard to illness: "using pious and edifying words, showing that he accepts l~is sick-ness as a gift of our Creator. and Lord." These ideas are especially clear in the seventh part of the Constitutions, where there is question 156 Ma~t, 1951 CURRENT WRITING of apostolic ministries in the strict sense, but they also form an under-current in all the parts and also in the General Examen. The twenty-ninth rule, on external comportment, ends: "and hence it will follow that, considering one another, they will increase in devo-tion and praise our Lord God, whom every one must strive to acknowledge in another as in His image." Thus we see sufficiently that to be "contemplative in the midst of action" involves essentially a kno~ving, a loving, and a putting on of Christ ever more and more, and various ways of seeking and finding God in all things, persons, and events, especially by a right intention and the spirit of faith. Father Verny points out three saints in whom we can easily recognize this excellent state of soul, because they were eminently "contemplative in the midst of action." The first is St. Ignatius himself, whom Father Nadal describes in the last part of the letter cited above. The second is blessed Peter Faber. After noting his manifold works for the Church, the fifth lesson of his Office con-tinues: "And while unceasingly he was doing such great deeds for the glory of God, he was with heart and mind so united to God that he seemed to be occupied With nothing but heavenly things." May we not apply to him the words of Holy ~Scripture: oculi mei semper ad Dominum . my eyes are always on the Lord"? The third example is $t. Vincent de Paul, as can also be readily seen from his Office. No doubt we could add many more: Francis. Xavier, Peter Canisius, Francis Regis, Isaac Jogues, Peter Claver, but also Charles Borromeo, Francis de Sales, Alphonsus Liguori, the holy Cur~ of Ars, Francesca Cabrini, and many others, both men and women. For them God has become an atmosphere, and all their activity takes place in this atmosphere. The activity may be very intense, overwhelming and extremely distracting, still it leaves intact unity and liberty of soul. Amid all the bustle and confusion, interiorly there is real silence and recollection. Send Saint Francis Xavier or Blessed Peter Faber on as many missions as you will, you will not change the spiritual atmosphere in which they move. ~ Multiply the" letters of St. Ignatius or the human miseries which St. Vincent de Paul tried to alleviate, deep down within, their tranquility of soul remains, their "conversation is in heaven." They are "contemplative in the mids~ of action." Their "eyes are always on the Lord." Of course, all this is an ideal, and a very high one. To reach it the~e are two stage~. The first emphasizes~the ascetical element. It 157 AUGUSTINE KLAAS Reviev., for Religious consists in the systematic and persevering practice of various spiritual ~exercises: prayer, intimacy with Christ, right intention, purity of heart, spirit of faith, presence of God, mortification of the external senses and the internal powers of the soul, faithfulness to grace and the inspirations of the Holy Spirit, the examen of conscience playing a major role. The second phase has no fixed rules or chartered course. It makes use of Father de Caussade's "sacrament of the present ;noment." It employs more frequently Father de Maumigny's "interior retreats." It consists essentially in a steady increase of faith, hope, and love of God and fellow-men, together with a growing docility to the Holy Spirit and use of His gifts. Perhaps the second stage can' be summdd up by Father Louis Lallemant in his Fourth Principle (chapter 2, article 1) : "The goal for which we should aim, after having for long time exercised ourselves in purity of heart, is to be so possessed and ruled by the Holy Spirit, that it is He alone who directs our p0wers,and our senses, and go.verns all our movements both interior and exterior, and that we abandon ourselves entirely by a spiritual renouncement of all our desires and personal gratifications. Thus we shall live no more in ourselves, but in 2esus Christ, by faithful cooperation with His divine Spirit, and by perfect subjection of all 'our rebelliousness to the power of His grace." The more this takes place, the closer we are coming to holiness and also to the mystical state, though the latter seems to be only for the very few. At this advanced level there is scarcely any difference between action and prayer, so much is action impregnated and permeated with prayer. The striving for this type of prayer amidst action is what St. Ignatius wanted in his followers. It is about this that Father Polanco wrote in behalf of Ignatius to Father Urban Fernandez, Rector of Coimbra, on June 1, 1551 : "As for prayer and meditation, except in a case of special necessity . our Father prefers that we t~y to find God in all things rather than devote much consecutive time to that exercise. He desires to see all the members of the Society animated with such a spirit that they do not find less devotion in works of charity and obedience than in prayer and meditation, since they ought to do nothing except for the love and service of Our Lord." This is the grand objective for which not only Jesuits But all religious and diocesan priests engaged in the active apostolate may and should strive~ and with God's grace ultimately achieve. 158 B ook/ eviews Four works by H. Pinard de la Boullaye, S.J.-- SAINT IGNACE DE LOYOLA, DIRECTEUR D'AMES. Pp. Ixxlx ,--1- 362. Aubier, I-=dltions Montaigne. LA SPIRITUALIT¢ IGNATIENNE: Textes. Choisls et pr&sent6s. Pp. I "-t- 4S7. Libralrle Plon, Paris. EXERCISES SPIRITUELS Selon la M6thode .de Saint Icjnace. Tome Pre-mier, Les Exercises, 7 ~:dltlon, revue et augment~e. Pp. xxvill ~ 314. Beauchesne ef Ses Fils, Paris, 1950. LES I~TAPES DE RI~DACTION DES EXERCISES DE S. IGNACE. 7 l'=-dltion, revue et corrig~e. Pp. viii -I- 76. Beauchesne et Ses Fils, Paris, 1950. After acquiring eminent distinction in such fields as comparative religion and religious experience and in giving the Lenten conferences at Notre-Dame, Paris, Fr. Pinard de la Boullaye has in recent years been devoting his great talents to writing on Ignatian spirituality. Among several volume~ on that general theme there are four to which we would call attention. Saint lgnace de Lo.qola, Directeur d'Ames opens with a long preface ~vhich presents the sources of Ignatian spirituality, its leading ideas, its general characteristics, and its value, and then an account of the writings of St. Ignatius and their character. The main body of the work consists of 314 pages of extracts, with notes and explana.- tions, from the original Sources. These excerpts are arranged according to different topics; for example, "the apostle of order and the greater glory of God," ". of self-control," ". of zeal," and so on. Thus in a moment one'could easily find in their authentic form St. Ig-natius's thoughts on many important points in the interior life. La Spiritualitd lqnatienne is similar in structure; and in content it is complementary. First a fairly lengthy preface gives a general description of Ignatian spiritual doctrine. Then in a systematic way the whole of the spiritual life, ascetical and mystical, is presented in selections, not so much this time from St. Ignatius himself, as from his 3esuit sons. This book therefore is an anthology, topically ar-ranged, of 3esuit spirituality. After a brief indication of a basic idea from the saint; various developments of it from 3esuit spiritual lit-erature are presented. Numerous notes and references could intro-duce one to further study of the same subject. A't the end of the book there is a very useful collection of brief biographical and biblio- 159 BOOK REVIEWS graphical notices of the Society's spiritual authors. Exercises Spiri(uels is the first of a four-volume set on St. Ig-natius's Exercises. It may be said that it is designed to explain them, whereas those that follow deoelop them in the form of retreats. However, it is not simply a commentary. It is proposed as "notes," and rather deals with what seem td be the essential ideas of St. Ig-natius, and the principal reasons why he chose such considerations and arranged them as he did. Thus, it is hoped, the right under-standing of the text will be facilitated. This book will no doubt 0 take a foremost place among writings on the Exercises.One special merit of it is a certain wholesome originality. ~ Les t~tapes de Rddaction is a small, but very interesting work on the evolution of the Exercises themselves. The process went on from 1521 to 1548, and in it six different stages or phases are distinguished and studied, If the author:s conclusions be correct, some old ad-mirers of the Exercises will be surprised to learn the dates at which certain of the more characteristic pieces appeared. --(3. AUG. F-LLARD, S.J. JEANNE JUGAN. By Mgr. Francis Trochu. Translated by Hugh Mont-gomery. Pp. xil -I- 288. Newman Press, Westminster, Maryland, 1950. $3.75. If there is one phenomenon in modern Catholic life from which no one can withhold the tribute of spontaneous admiration, it is the work of the Little Sisters of the Poor. It must have been a wonder-ful personality, one feels, that, under God, brought that body into being. Here is the story of that personality, so wonderful that even in the order she inspired and first "established--owing to the fact that it was "kidnapped" by a priest-director and: held captive incredibly long--she was not known by most of her fellow-religious as their founder. "Jeanne Jugan will be canonized some day, but there will be many.difficulties in the way, for we have no dstails about her life," said a priest of Jeanne, when all the.facts were still being cov-ered under conspiratorial silence. Truth can hide in strange places. In this instance it was the records of the French Academy (which had conferred the Montyon Prize on Jeanne before the "kidnapping"), and it was through that source that it came home to the Little Sisters, and the world, what a wonderful woman had called their work into existence. God is wonderful in Jeanne Jugan.--CIERALD ELLARD, S.J. 160 May, 1951 BOOK NOTICES THE TRUE STORY OF SAINT BERNADETTE. By Henri petitotl O.P. Translated by a Benedictine of Stanbrook Abbey. Pp. viii -I- 19S. The Newman Press, Westminster, Maryland. $2.50. This book is not intended to be a complete biography of St. Ber-nadette. It is more in the line of an appreciation. It supposes that the reader already has a fair knowledge of the facts of Bernadette's life. What the autho~ tries to do is reproduce the spirit behind the facts of her life. The common reaction to a book with a~title like "the true story" of something or other is the suspicion that the author is setting about to correct some popular notions about his subject. Whether the popular concept of Bernadette contains some false notions, the author does not explicitly say. But he wants to be sure that the reader has two things straight by the time he finishes, the book. First of all, Bernadette was not an unintelligent girl. Her intelligence was above average, although her education was neglected until she entered the ,religious life. Secondly, she was not just an ordinary good religious (as her mother superior claimed). It is true that Bernadette was favored with special graces before her entrance into the religious life, But this is not the reason she is a saint. She developed the practice of heroic virtue in tile religious life, especially by the way she accepted suffering and humiliation. The author stresses the heroism that Bernadette manifested in a particular kind of suffering that was harder to bear than physical pain. Two of her superiors took on themselves the job of seeing that Bernadette stayed humble. Some of the other Sisters, taking their cue .from the superiors, took up the crusade to keep Bernadette humble. The uncharitableness that can be cloaked underneath such a crusading attitude is obvious. A fault into which the author seems to fall occasionally is to squeeze heroicity out of insignificant incidents. He has plenty of arguments for her heroism without exaggerating the significance of minor incidents.--JOHN R. SHEETS, S.J. BOOK NOTICES On June seventeenth will be beatified the saintly MotherCouderc, Foundress of the Cenacle Sisters, who died in her eightieth year in 1885. If you wish to see why God so obviously blesses the Society "161 BOOK NOTICES ' Reuietu for Religious of the Retreat of Our Lady in the Cenacle in its very rapid diffusion in the United States and elsewhere, you will find in this biography, SURRENDER TO THE SPIRIT, that supernatural self-surrender to the Holy Ghost, who in the Cenacle came upon the infant C~aurch in Pentecostal tongues of fire. Mother Surles of the Boston Cenacle presents her heroic subject in an inspiring, but slightly "novelized" biography, in casting much of it in conversational form. Blessed ThOr}se Couderc should henceforth bare many friends among girls and women of all walks of life. (New York: Kenedy, 1951. Pp. xxi -b 243. $3.00.) OUR HAPPY LOT, written by Aurelio Espinosa Polit, S.J., and translated by William J. Young, S.J., is directed to all religious and priests. 'It presents various considerations intended to inculcate fer-vor and consolation in those consecrated to God. The unique gi.ft of vocation, its assurance ofsalvation, its call to intimacy with Christ, its sufferings and temptations, the'zeal which it postulates, the means of grace which it affords--all these topics are treated in a spirit of piety and elucidated ,by citations and explanations of Holy Scripture. The last fifty pages (pp. 195-245) are a summary, or recapitulation of the book. The various subjects are condensed into brief medi-tations. (St. Louis: B. Herder Co., 1951. Pp. xi + 245. $3.50.) CAN CHRIST HELP ME?, by C. C. Martindale, S.J., is addressed to the World at large and aims at bringing all 'men to. the knowledge and love of Christ. Nevertheless, the last three parts (pp'. 81-205), comprisifig almost two-thirds of the volume, furnish stimulating spiritual reading for religious and priests. This section develops the Ignatian retreat meditation called the Kingdom of Christ and from it the reader becomes enthusiastic not only for Christ's doctrine'or His past achievements, but e~pecially for the Person who can help me right now "as one living person helps another." This zest and love for Christ are developed by explaining the miracles, the parables, the sermons, the attitudes, the anecdotes: and the ordinary actions of Christ as these are portray.ed in the Gospels. Upon all of these Father Martindale throws new light and be does so in that simple, graphic style which belongs to a master of English prose. (West-minster, Md.: The Newman Press, 1950. Pp. 205. $2.25.) 162 Ma~l, 1951 BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS [For the most part. these notices are purely descriptive, based on a cursory exam-ination of the books listed.] AMI PRESS, Washington, New Jersey. Matins in a Leafy~ Wood. The Story of Mother M. Germaine. By Sister Mary Charitas, I.H.M. Pp. 124. $2.50. An inspiring life of an educator dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Issue 10.5 of the Review for Religious, 1951. ; A.M.D.G. . Renew for Religious SEPTEMBER 15, 1951. Christian Heroes . J. Pu~z Joy in Heaven . Richard L. Rooney ¯ PassionisHc SpirH'uallty . Fidells Rice Modesty ¯ ¯ ~ . ,~ .~ . C- A. Herbs÷ Grace o~ Our Vocation . P. De Leffer Communion for O~hers . . Clerence McAuliffe A Vocational Newspaper Questions and Answers Book Reviews ,VOLUME X i' =, NUMBER 5' RI:::VI W FOR RELIGIOUS VOLUME X SEPTEMBER, 1951 NUMBER GONTENTS CHRISTIAN HEROES-~3. Putzo S.J . 225 Heroism of Everyday Life . 225 The New Saints ¯ " . ZZ9 The New Beati . 235 JOY IN HEAVEN--Richard L. Rooney, S.3 .2.3.9 PASSIONISTIC SPIRITUALITY--Fidelis Rice, C.P .2.4.1 OUR CONTRIBUTORS . 246 MODESTY--C. A. Herbst, S.J . 247 ETUDE SUR LA PAUVRETE. RELIGIEUSE .2.5.2. THE GRACE OF OUR VOCATION---P. De Letter, S.J .2.5.3 COMMUNICATIONS--A VOCATIONAL NEWSPAPER . 260 OFFERING COMMUNION' FOR OTHERS-~Clarence McAuliffe, S.J. 261 MEDICO-MORAL PROBLEMS . 265 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS-- 20. Alienation of Property for $100,000 . 266 21. Alienation of Sacred Objects: Relics, Images, Vessels . . . . 266 22. Extreme Unction before Major Operation .268 23. Letters of Golden Jubilarians . 268 24. Novice Master at Coun~i~ Meeting . ¯ " . 268 25. Communion to Ambulatory Sick . 269 26. Hail Mary's on Feast of Annunciation . 270 I'~EW MEDITATION BOOKS . 270 BOOK REVIEWSw Pastor's History of the Popes; The Love of God and the Cross of Jesus; The Gifts of the Holy Ghost . 273 BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS . 276 BOOK NOTICES . 278 TEN YEAR INDEX OF REVIEW--MAYBE . 280 REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, September. 1951. Vol. X, No. 5. Published bi-monthly: January, March, May, July, September, and November at the College Press, 606 Harrison Street, Topeka, Kansas, by St. Mary's College, St. Marys, Kansas, with ecclesiastical approbation, Entered as second class matter January 15, 1942, at the Post Office, Topeka. Kansas, under the act of March 3, 1879. Editorial Board: Adam C. Ellis, S.J., G. Augustine Ellard, S.J., Gerald Kelly, S.J. Editorial Secretary: Jerome Breunig, S~ J. Copyright, 1951, by Adam C. Ellis, S,J. Permission is hereby granted for quota-tions of reasonable length, provided due credit be given this review and the author. Subscription price]! 3 dollars a year: 50 cents a copy. Printed in U. S. A. Befoie writing to us, please consult notice on inside back cover. Christ:ian bleroe It~UR DAYS call for heroic living. The greatness.and diffi: ~ culties of our time are su.cb that no disciple ofo "~hrist.is allowed to remain satisfied with mediocrity." This, saying of Plus XI has often been quoted. The Holy Year was" meant-to stir up Christendom to greater fervor, that it might be an:active, l'eaven for'the much-needed renovation of the world. The numerous beati-fications and canonizations of this last year put beforeus outstandi'ng Christian heroes whose example is meant to stimulate our mediocgity~ Heroism is the test applied by the Church to candidates for .beati-- fication--not a human, stoic heroism, but a heroism inspired by personal love, by charity, and sustained by the Holy Ghost dwellin~ in the soul. At the beginning the typical saint was the ma'rtyr, th.e Christian who had been a witness to Christ by. dying for Him. ,But soon it was realized that, in the absence of persecution.s, there can be an "unbloody martyrdom" by heroic fidelity in liv'ing for Christ, Thus, by the side of martyrs, the names o,~f. outstanding "confes~ors~j came to be added in the martyrology. Heroism always remained the test of genuine sanctity, and the Congregation of Rites, .When studying the cause of'a confessor, has chiefly to discuss the hiroism his virtue. Is there evidence that he possessed in a herbic degree.the theolggical virtues of faith, hope, charity and the cardinal.~ri~tues :of prudence, justice, temperance, fortitude, with the virtues connected with them'? , .' ~ :: " , But what is required for heroic virtue? It is not easy tO dete~ mine thi's notion. Benedict XIV, in his treatise on'the beatification of the servants of God, has given all the elements, but he has:not made the synthesis, and one may say that the notion remained some:~ what indeterminate. This gave rise, 'within the ,Congregatigrl of Rites, to different conceptions of heroic, virtue. This. difference' de-layed the cause of the servant of God, A. Gianelli. The same reason may explain why until this year no child or ado.lescent ever passed the test, for the classical conception insisted 'on "extraordinary,~.' manifestatidns of heroism. There was room for progress 'tow~i'r'ds greater precision and, accor~ding to a recent articl'e by.~a consultor:of 22'5 J. PU~Z Reoieto for Religious the Congregation of Rites, the well-known Carmelite, Father Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, a distinct progress has been made during recent years. (Cf. Etudes Carmelitaines, 1949, pp. 175-88.~ This progress has not only a juridical importance for the process of beatification; it interest~ ascetical theology as well, since all Chris-tians are called to sanctity, and the type of holiness required by the Church for canonization determines the ideal of Christian perfection after which all must strive. T.he true Christian is the saint, and the saints are the standard by which we must guide and judge ourselves. Our imitation of.them must be based on a precise notion of what sanctity-~heroic virtue--consists in. Aqcording to Father Gabriel, the work of elaboration and deter-mination took place chiefly between 1916 and 1922, under the direct inspiration of Benedict XV. It can be followed in the decrees of the Congregation of Rites published on the occasion of the declara-tion of heroic virtue especially in the decrees concerning A. M. Gianelli (AAS, 1920, pp. 170-4)'and 3. N. Neumann (AAS, 1922, pp. 23-6). As a result, we are told, the Church is now in possession of a concept of heroic virtue more synthetic, less complicated and less abstract, more definite and easier to apply. This notion was clearly expressed in 1916 by Benedict XV, when he declared that "sanctity consists merely in conformity with the divine will, expressed in the constant and exact fulfillment of the duties of one's state." Sanctity, as the decree of April 11, 1920, explains, cannot be judged by an abstract standard. The saints cannot be reduced to one type. Heroism will vary according to each one's temperament, state of life, and other circumstances. It will not always show itself by extraordinary or stupendous deeds. For, as the decree' states, "these require a suitable occasion. But such occasions are rare and do not depend on the will of man; persecutions, for instance, plagues, or earthquakes cannot be produced at will. Hence, if holi-ness consisted in such deeds, it would follow that holiness itself does not depend on the will of man--which is absurd." The heroism to which all Christians can aspire is the exact and constant fulfillment of their concrete daily duties. "Comrounia sed non communiter,'" according to the motto of St. John Berchmans, doing common things but uncommonly well. What makes the saint is not the nature of his actions, whether extraordinary or common, important or insig-nificant; what counts is the intensity of his love that rules and in-spires all his actions. 226 September, 195 ! (]HRISTIAN HEROES Such fidelity implies real heroism, for nothing is more difficult to human nature than constancy. To be moved in everything by the will of God only, without being influenced by the ever-active sensi-bility, the sudden movements of the passions, the sense of fatigue, the ups and downs of one's n~oods.---such constancy supposes that the soul is under the perfect domination of the Holy Ghost and totally oriented towards its last end. Father Gabriel wrote in the same article, "If it were not so, if it were not perfectly purified, if other motives distinct from the love of God were still active (they can all be reduced to self-love, the root of all inordinate love of creatures), .then it would inevitably act more than once under the impulse of these motives and thus deviate from the pure fulfillment of the divine~ will." In such a soul "we admire a human nature tbat has reached a singular harmony and perfection--its spiritual forces keeping the sensible fac~lties in docile submission or completely conquering their resistance, so as to realize to perfection the task prescribed to it by the Lord: the perfect fulfillment of His holy will by a total, constant, ~nd generous fidelity to the daily duty." "Such sublime conduct, kept up over a long period, and without failure, is completely above the powers of human .nature left to itself . It alone suffices for evangelical heroism, for it makes man perfect in the way the heavenly ~Father is perfect." (Quoted by Benedict XIV in his treatise on beatification, III, c. 21, n. 10.) ! "'The heroism of the ordinary life has officially received a place by the side of the classical extraordinary heroism," wrote D. Pietro Brocardo. (Cf. Satesianum, 1950, p. 197.) Benedict XV's suc-cessor, the Pope who stressed the universal call of Christians to sanc-i. ,t~ty, often expounded this conception. Sanctity, according to Plus ~KI, is not something "exceptional," it is but the Christian life lived fully and intensely according to each one's vocation. Sanctity is but ~he fullest and richest expression of Christian life. It is the divine perfection proposed to all, from the humblest believer to the gigantic ~gures of hagiography. If not all are called to the same height of ~anctity, yet all are called to sanctity. His most famous pronounce-ment on this topic is his allocution published in Osservatore Romano, ~Jan. 6, 1928, on "the terrible everyday duty," given after the reading bf the decree of the heroic virtue of Brother Benildus, a humble leacher who had spent his whole life in elementary schoo.ls: "A humble servant of God, whose whole life was all modesty hnd silence, all very commonplace and very 'everyday.' But in such 227 Reoiew for Religious an. everyday- life how much there is that is not common! This everyday, always the same, with the same occupations, the same ~;eakness~s, the same miseries, has rightly been called 'the terrible ev'e'ryda3f:' How much strength is required to stand up to this ter-rible, this crushing, this monotonous, this asphyxiating everyday! An. un'c6mmon irirtue is very necessary to perform--not with an all too'° frequent negligence and superficiality but with attention and inner fe'rvbr of spirit--that series of common actions which fill our e'4ceryday life'. 0' "Holy Church is never a more equitable judge and a wi~er teacher of bdlinesk than when she honors these humble lights, so often unnoticed even by those who had the good fortun~ tosee them shine finder their i'er~, eyes. Extraordinary things, great events, magnifi-cei~ t enterprises arouse the noblest instincts: in the commonplace, on the:contrary, that is, in the flat and obscure everyday task, there is nothing exciting or fascin.ating. Yet this is the stuff the life of most men' is made of. How often do extraordinary circumstances present therfiselves in a lifetime? They are very rare, and woe to us if sanc-tity were reserved to extraordinary circumstances! What would the greater part of'~nankind do? For it is certain that all without dis-tinction are called to sanctity." " B'roth~r B~nil~tus was beatified twenty years later, on April 4, 1948. On that occasion Plus XII, too, spoke of the heroism of the ordinary life. Benildus was neither a founder, nor a mystic, nor a miracle-worker; h~.was a,~simple schoolmaster. His only claim to the honors' of the YChurch was his fidelity to duty--to his rules and the daily grind of the school. But such constant fidelity to the details of his di~ty, his radiant charity, his serenity in difficulties could only flow. frorrl a'ddep[and vigorous interior life and habitual union with Goal. ' :. ¯ During th~ Holy Year a variety of saints have been' beatified or e~rmn~zed." Maria Goretti w~s only eleven when she died, but she Was canonized as a martyr. Yet, even this extraordinary form of htroisrd;, the Pope pointed out, presupposes the "ordinary" heroism of the'daily life. Among the new beati is the first adolescent ever t'gised to the altars, Dominic Savio. So far, the youngest confessor ~fioni~ed is S~."Stanislaus; but he was a young man of eighteen ~nd, besides bein~ a religious, his life was out of the ordina.ry, Dominic died before he was fifteen, and his life was the very ordinary s~hool-b'oy life. The criterion of heroic virtue exposed by Father Gabriel 228 September, 1951 CHRISTIAN HEROES ,seems to havi~ made it possible for children and adolescerits to pass the test required for tl~e supreme honors of the Church. The eight saints canonized during the Holy Year of 1950 brought "the total number canonized by Plus XII tO twenty-two. Saints Emily de Rodat and Maria Goretti were also beatified by the present Holy Father. Among the canonized we find seven confessors and one martyr; one bishop, one priest-founder of a religious insti-tute, three foundresses of religious congregations, and three who attained sanctity "in the world": a middle-aged woman, a young woman, and a girl. Four are Italian, two French, one Spanish, and one from Latin America. Five belong to the nineteenth century, while the fifteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries each claim one. St. Jeanne de Valois (1464-1504) Jeanne de Valois, daughter, sister, and wife of kings, seemed to be so high-placed only to be the more cruelly humiliated and cast away. Her birth was a bitter disappointment for King Louis XI who already had a daughter and wanted a son who could succeed him. Misshapen by nature, she was sent away from the court and brought up by strangers. When still a child, she was bound by a political marriage to the young Duke of Orleans who detested her and who, when twenty years later he l~ecame King Louis XII, had his marriage annulled, makin,g of the rejected queen an object of public ridicule. But the greater her disgrace in the eyes of the world, the more clearly stands out her moral nobility and spiritual greatness. The "royal Cinderella," as she has been called, showed no bitterness, no morbid self-pity; she accepted everything with sincere humility, deep love for God and for men (including her husband for whom she never ceased praying and who became one of the best-loved kings of France), and whole-hearted application to the work God had given her. The king, on sending her away, made over to her the duchy of Berry, and during the six remaining years of her life she resided at Bourges, her capital, administering the duchy with such success that she earned from her pebple the title of "the Good Duchess."A'mid 229 J. PUTZ Review [or Religious the splendor of her court she secretly practiced" the most rigorous penances. In 1500 she realized a long-cherished project, the founda-tion of an order'of the Blessed Virgin, the Annqnciade. Its members were to take as their means of sanctification the imitation, the repro-duction of M~ry, by practicing, her "Ten Virtues" as found in the Gospel. She herself, though continuing to rule the duchy, made her religious profession and wore the habit under her worldly d~ess. She completed her work by founding a Third Order, the "Order of Peace,': whpse members, living in the world, were to work for peace and reconciliation. The Order of the Annonciade flourished for centuries, but was almost destroyed by the French Revolution. At ' present it has a half dozen bouses in Belgium, France, and England. When Joan died in her fortieth year she was immediately venerated as a saint. Her cult grew, miracles multiplied, but she was not formally beatified until 1742. Pius XII solemnlY proclaimed her a saint on May 28. In his homily the Holy Father stressed the saint's work for the promotion of peace; in heaven, he said, she continues to pray for the extinction of hate and for fraternal concord, so that the nations may form one great family, striving with united for~es to ensure prosperity and peace for all. On the following day, in an address to the numer-ous French pilgrims, he described the spirituM characteristics of the saint--spirit of faith, devotion to the Mother of Jesus ("an infallible test of the true. Christian"), union with Jesus in suffering--and gave her as an example tO French Catholics, particularly to the women of France "on'whom in the present crisis devolves a mission 9f supreme importance." SI. Mary Ann of Jesus (1618-1645) Born in Quito, Ecuador, of Spanish parents, this Saint of Latin America--"the Lily of Quito"--showed a precocious attraction for the things of the spirit. She took the three vows at ten and lived the live of a solitary in a room of her sister's wealthy home,.leaving it only to go to church and to visit the poor and sick. She practiced heroic austerities and was favored with sublime prayer. In 16~}5, when Quito was visited by earthquakes and a deadly plague, she publicly offered herself as a victim for the sins of the people. The skourge abated, but she was seized with a malady-which put an end to her short but intense life. She was only twenty-six. 230 September, 1~51 CHRISTIAN HEROES She was beatified by Plus IX in 1853. In 1946 "the Parliament of Ecuador declared her a "national heroine." Her canonizatiorl, the last of the Holy Year, took place on July 9.In his homily the Holy Father stressed three aspects, of her life: (1) immaculate purity; (2) ardent charity, which she practiced towards every misery, spir-itual and material: when she was powerless to help, she tried to obtain help from God by prayer, expiation, the offering of her life; (3) extraordinary austerity, inspired by the desire to expiate the sins of men. She offered herself as a~victim for the salvation of others. This question of mortification needs special stres.sing in the mod-ern world, the Pope said. "Not all, especially nowadays, understand this kind of penance; not all esteem it as they should. Many of our contemporaries despise it or neglect it. Yet we should know that for our fallen nature penance is absolutely necessa.ry. Unless y.ou do pena.nce you will all perish. Indeed, nothing heli3s more efficaciously to conquer our passions and to subject our natural instincts to the control of reason. And when we have won a victory over ourselves it is sweet to exp'erience a divine joy which surpasses' al'l earthly pleasures." In his allocution to pilgrims the following day, the Pope re-marked that we "who. live in the full light of the deyotion of the Sacred Heart may well admire the holy intuitions of this innocent victim who, at the beginning of .the seventeenth century, was led to make of reparation the centre of her spirituality." St. Vincent Strambi (1745-1824) St. Vincent Strambi was one of the great bishops and upholders of the Church's independence in the face of totalitfirian rulers. After being ordained a priest in 1767 he was received into the Passionist Congregation by St. Paul of the Cross himself. He was a great preacher of missions and director of souls (among his penitents was the Blessed Anna Maria Taigi) and filled high offices of authority in his order. In 1801 he was, much against his will, appointed bishop of Macerata and Tolentino by Plus VII. He administered his dio-cese with the zeal of another Charles Borromeo. Preoccupied chiefly with the formation of the clergy and the diffusion of religious in-struction, he brought about a religious renewal among priests and laity. When he refused to take the oath of. allegiance to the ustirping regime established by Napoleon he was expelled from his diocese in 231 J. PUTZ Review for Religious 1808 until the fall of the Emperor in 1813. In 1823 he resigned his see and died soon after in Rome, where Pope Leo XII had made him his confidential adviser." In the midst of his intense activity and the vicissitudes "of his life he never relaxed anything in the austerity of his private life. He was beatified, in 1925 and canonized on June 11, 1950. In his homily the Holy Father made an application to the countries where the Church is being oppress, ed by the secular power: "The Church can be attacked, she cannot be conquered . If under the present difficulties--which in some countries seem graver than those referred to above--some souls are disconcerted, wavering, or anxious, they should remember the promises of Jesu~ Christ and try to imitate the invincible fortitude of this saint as well as. his other virtues." St. Anthony Claret (1807-1870) St. Anthony Claret was another great priestly figure of the nine-teenth century. Born at Salient in the north of Spain, he practiced for a tired his father's trade of cloth-weaving, but eventually was able to follow his heart's desire and join the seminary of Vicb. After his ordination in 1835 and a few years of pa.rish work, he conse-crate'd himself with extraordiriary success to ~he preaching of missions and retreats throughout Catalonia. His zeal inspired other priests, and in 1849 he founded the Congregation of MissioriarySons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, commonly kno.wn.as the Claretians. The same year he was sent to Cuba as Archbishop of Santiago, to b~ing about there a much-needed reform: In this post of exceptional diffi-culty he achieved considerable results, though several attempts were made on his life. After seven years he was recalled to Spain to become the confessor of Queen Isabella II. In the revolution of 1868 he was banished from his country. He attended the Vatican Council where he spoke eloquently for the definition of papal infalli-bility. Soon after, .on Oct. 24, 1870, he died in France. Besides preaching some 10,000 sermons, h~ was an ardent apostle of the press. He wrote 120 books and pamphlets (144 volumes), founded religious libraries, and promoted the diffusion of good literature. He was beatified in 1934 and canonized on May 7, 1950. The work of this powerful apostle is carried on by the Cl~iretians who in 1949 celebrated their first centenary. They count at present Over 4,000 members in 24I establishments all over "the world. Their chief work is education, missions and retreats, and the aposfolate of 232 September, 1951 CHRISTIAN HEROES the press. In Rome they ~un the Poliglotta Press and edit the Corn-mentarium pro religiosis et missionariis. St. Emily de Radar (1787-1852) .' At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the French Revolu-tion and the long wars that followed it bad accumulated in France and Europe immense miseries, spiritual and material. Then Provi-dence raised up numerous saints who, impressed by the needs of their time, devoted themselves to remedy them. Rarely in the history of the Church do we find so many religious institutes springing up every-where, dedicated to the prac.tice of various v~orks of corporal and spiritual mercy. In this providential reconstruction women had a prominent share, and this explains why among the saints beatified or canonized by Pius XII there ale so many religious foundresses of this period. Emily de Radar was beatified by Plus XII in 1940 and canon-ized by the same on April 23, 1950. Born of an aristocratic family, she was brought up by pious parents but passed through a period of worldly frivolity and religious indifference. Converted during the Holy Year of 1804, she decided to consecrate'her life to the service of God. After trying several religious institutes, her visits to the poor made .her realize the great need for Catholic schools: She immedi-ately set to work: she had found her vocation. With three other young women she opened a school, and thus the Congregation of the Holy Family was started. Today it has over 200 houses in Europe and South America--schools, orphanages, hospitals. The H01y Father, in his homily, stressed the precious services rendered by reli-gious institutes of women: "When we consider the admirable enterprises of this saint, when we remember what her congregation and the other religious institutes --almost innumerable--have accomplished, we cannot but proclaim that the Church and civil society as well owe very much to all these religious women. If we did not have them, if God by His heavenly inspiration did not continually and in every century raise them up, if He did not sustain them by His help, who could fill their place? Let all, then, learn to praise them as they deserve, to help them as they can . And may the religious zealously and strenuously strive to live up to their lofty vocation." Saints Bartolomea Capltanio and Catherine Gerosa (1807-1833) (1784-1847) , Bartolomea Capitanio and Catherine Gerosa founded together 233 the Italian Sisters of Charity, after the model of St. Vincent de Paul's Sisters of Charity. Bartolomea began her apostolate at fourteen, teaching, little children. Soon her simple and strong personality drew to her, as to their mother, the young, the poor and afflicted of her little town of Lovere. Seeing the need to organize the ever-increaging work she joined forces with another saintly worker of the same town, Catherine, who was twenty years her senior and had already opened a hospital for the sick poor. Bartolomea died a few years later, at the early age of twenty-six. Her spiritual notes and instructions, as well as a considerable number of her letters, have been published. She left the young institute to the care of Catherine (who had ~dopted the name of Vincenza), an extremely bumble woman, yet an efficierit worker and able organizer. During the fourteen years she had still to live, the congregation continued to expand 'rapidly Today it counts nearly 9,000 religious in some 500 houses. Barto-lomea' was beatified in 1926; Vincenza in 1933T.hey w~re canon-ized together on May 18, 1950. St. Maria Gorettl (1890-1902) No canonization war received with greater enthusiasm than that of the humble village girl who died for the preservation of her purity The ~tory of her martyrdom is. known to all our readers. Her popu-larity and the speed of her promotion to the highest honors of the Church ha~e been equalled or surpassed in modern times only by the Little Flower of Lisieux. Her cause was introduced in 1938 and concluded in 1945. The solemn beatification took place on April 27, 1947, and she was canonized three years later, on June.-24, 1950, forty-eight years after her death. " (Teresa of Lisieux died on Sept. 30, 1897, was beatified on April 29, 1923, and canonized on May 17, 1925. Aloysius Gonzaga was beatified fourteen years after his death, bu~ another' centu.ry passed before be was canonized.) In spite of her youth, Maria was capable of heroism, and this heroism showed itself also in the pardon accorded to her miarderer on her' deathbed and in. the superhum~t'n patience during the extremely painful operation by which,the doctors tried to save her, withou~ putting her to .sleep,. D.ur!ng those tWO. long., hours Mary never complained but kept invoking the help of the" BlEssed Virgin. For .sush :heroism, the Holy F,a.ther point.e~d 6ut.in his allocution, the 23~, September, 195 I. CHRISTIAN HEROES courageous child had prepared herself by the daiIy practice of the virtues of her state: "It is true that it is above all purity that sho~e in Maria Goretti's martyrdom, but with it. and in it the other Christian virtues tri-umphed as well. In that purity there was the most evident and sig-nificant affirmation of the perfect control of the soul over matter. In that supreme heroism, which cannot be improoised, there was the tender, obedient," and active love for the parents, self-sacrifice in the hard work~of every day, poverty accepted in an evangelical spirit and sustained by trust in Providence, religion embraced tenaciously, deepened ever more, ~ssimilated as a treasure of life and nourished by the flame of prayer; the fervent desire of ~lesus in the Eucharist, and finally--the crown of charity--the heroic pardgn accorded to the murderer. All this forms a rustic garland, so dear to God, of country flowers which adorned the white veil of her First Com-munion and, shortly after, her martyrdom." The beatifications of the Holy Year, like the canonizations were eight in number. The total of those beatified by Pope Plus XII at the end of 19~0 is now'fifty-two; this includes the twenty-nine Chinese martyrs. Among those beatified during the Holy Year we find one priest, one boy, and six foundresses of religious institutes: two Spanish, two Italian, and two French. All except one belong to the nineteenth century. Blessed Vincen~ Pallo~f~ (1795-f850). Vincent Pallotti was the apostle of Rome at a difficult period of histo~-y.-After his ordination and a double doctorate at the Sapienza, he started his apostolate among students and it soon became clear that Rome possessed a holy priest. He was made confessor of Propaganda College, the English College, the Roman Seminary. On all of them his influence was deep. But his preferences were for the poor and the workers; he opened professional and agricultural schools and pro-moted t?ade unions. His zeal embraced the whole world and every" need, spiritual and material. For this "universal" object he founded the Society of the Catholic Apostolate (a society :of" priests and Brothers living in common without public vows, commonly known ,235 J. PUTZ Reoieu~ for Religious as the Pallottines) and the Sisters of the Catholic Apostolate. He took a special interest in the conversion of England and sent to that country some of his best men. He realized, more than a century ago, the immense possibilities and the necessity of the lay apostolate, and Pius XI called him a "pioneer and precursor of Catholic Action." This bold and far-sighted planner was a man of incredible humility, considering himself an obstacle to the progress of the Church and accepting without a word the most cruel humiliations. He always kept his predilection f.0r the poor, giving them even his own clothes. He died of a pleurisy contracted as a consequence of giving his mantle to a destitute man. Today 3,550 Pallottines and 2,900 Sisters of the Catholic Apos-tolate continue the saint's w.ork in many countries. Vincent's beati-fication was the first of the Holy Year; it took place on Jan. 22, exactly 100 years after hi~ death. A few days later the Pope pointed out "this great sacerdotal figure" as an example to parish priests and preachers. His sermons, he said, were always directed to the ur~uro nec.essarium; his confessional was eagerly sought after and surrounded with extraordinary effects of grace, "May his spirit be renewed in every one of you and infuse into your apostolate that .irresistible glow of love which the doubting, uncertain, and suffering men of today need so much." Blessed Marla-Soledad Torres y Acosta (1826-1887) Maria started her apostolate of charity in a squalid quarter of Madrid. With her h'elp the parish priest opened a hospital for. the ¯ poor. Eventually she had to take charge of the whole work, which she stabilized and perpetuated by founding a religious congregation, the Servants of Mary. Her institute during her lifetime spread from Spain to South America. At present it counts some 1,600 members. She was beatified on Feb. 5, 1930. Blessed Vincenta-Maria Lopez y Vicuna (1847-1890) Vincenta was born of an aristocratic Spanish family. Sent to Madrid for her higher education, she became interested there in the charitable Work of her aunt who, shocked by the difficulties and dangers of the lives of domestic servants, had opened a home for them. Vincenta refused a brilliant match arranged by her father and 236 Se'ptembe¢, 19:51 CHRISTIAN HEROES took the vow of chastity. After her father's death she used her con-siderable fortune.to develop her work of social assistance. To further extend it she founded the Daughters of Mary Immaculate for the protection of young women. At'present they number, nearly 2,000 members in various countries. Their hostels for domestic servants, working-girls or students provide for the material and spiritual wel-fare of well over 30,000 young women. She was beatified on Feb. 19, 1950. Blessed Paola-Elizabeth Cerloli. (1816-1865) Like Vinc~nta she was bor~ of a noble family in Northern Italy. But at nineteen, not feeling called to the religious life, she followed the wish of her parents and married an old widower,Count Buzecchi, forty years her senior. After the death of her husband and three children she was then tl~irty-eight--she consecrated her time and income tO assisting the poor peasants and farmhands of the sur-rounding country. In 1857 she started a religious community, the Sisters of the Holy Family of Bergamo, for the care of orphans and morally abandoned children. In 1950 this institute counted some 300 members. The saint was also instrumental in founding a simi-lar institute for men, the Priests of' the Holy Family. The brief of canonization compares her with St. Joan de Chantal, an angel in four states of life, girl, wife, widow, and religious. She was beatified on March .19, 1950. Blessed Maria ~e Mattias (1805-1866) Maria was born in the diocese of Gaeta. When she was seven-teen, she attended a mission preached by the Blessed Gaspar del Bufalo, a friend of Blessed Vincent Pallotti and founder of the Mis-sionaries of the Most,Precious Blood. The holy preacher to whom she opened'her soul recognized her great gifts and entouraged her to take up the apostolate of Christian education. She began by gath-ering the little children in her parental home, and in 1834 she founded.a convent and a school. This was the beginning of the in-stitute of the "Adoratrici" of the Most Precious Blood, which today has 215 houses in Italy and 172 in other parts of the world, with some 2,000 members. She was beatified on Oct. 15, 1950. Blessed Anne-Marie Javouhey (1779-1851) The child of a farmer of Burgundy, she grew up amid the horrors 237 J., PUTZ Reaie~a [or Religious of the French Revolution, sometimes risking her life. in order to hide and assist priests. At nineteen she vowed perpetual Chastity and re-solved to dedicate her life to the education of children and the care of the sick. As other girls joined her in the work she c~nceived the plan of her new congregation, the Sisters of St. Joseph, called "of Cluny" from the place of the mother house. Soon she made founda-tions in mission countries, Africa, Pondicherry, French Guiana, and others. A woman of remarkable energy and intrepid enterprise' (King Louis Philippe said admiringly, "Madame Javouhey, that's a great man"), she frequently visited her missions, worked for the abo-lition of slavery and for the organization of public services in the colonies. From the start she realized the necessity of forming an indigenous clergy, and in order to accelerate the work she brought to France the first Negro candidates for the priesthood. Today the Sisters of St. Joseph are found in every part 'of the world, working in schools, hospitals, leper asylums, and other institutions. She was beatified on Oct. 15, 1950. Blessed Marguerite Bourgeo~ys (1620-1700) This blessed takes us back to the seventeenth century and to the great period of ~he Canadian missions. John de Brebeuf was mar-tyred in 1649. The Ursuline missionary-contemplative Marie de l'Incarnation died in Quebec in 1672. Margaret, who had first tried the contemplative life with the Carmelites and the Poor Clares in her native France, found bet vocation when .the Governor of Montreal came to France and tried to find a teacher for the children of the French garrison of Ville-Marie. She offered her services and in 1653 reached Montreal, where she .began bet apostolate by teaching the catechism and visiting the sick in their huts. In 1658, with some companions whom she bad brought out from France the previous year, she founded the congregation of Notre Dame of Montreal, which became an important educational factor for the whole of Canada and. since 1860, for the United States (at present 5,680 members). Margaret, "schoolmistress and itinerant mis~iorlary,;' opened mission schools ff;r Indian girls, many of whom became zealous Sisters in the institute. Thus, as the Pope remarked in his address to Canadian pilgrims, she realized among the "savage" Huron girls what St. Francis de Sales had dreamt of for France, a congrega-tion of non-cloistered "secular daughters." She was beatified on November 12, 1950. 238 September, 1951 JOY IN HEAVEN Blessed Dominic Savlo (1842-1857) Blessed Dominic, beatified on March 5, is the Benjamin of the confessors raised to the altars, since he was not quite fifteen when he died, The son of a modest but deeply Christian family, he very early showed a special earnestness and resoluteness in his piety. His First Communion, which he made at seven, .definitely set his will towards the goal of sanctity. In 1854 be was received by Don Bosco into the oratorio of Turin. Here~ under the saint's direction, and fos-tered by special graces, his spiritual life developed rapidly; but after two ~,ears a sickness obliged him to return to his home, where he died a few months later. His life was written by Don Bosco him-self. The decree declaring the heroism of his virtues was published in 1933. The beatification of this youthful masterpiece of divine grace--grace to which he corresponded heroically--will no doubt encourage new studies on the nature of sanctity and .especially of children's sancti~j'. [EDITORS' NOTE: The foregoing article is reprinted with permissi'on from The Clergy Montfily, a magazine published in India.] Joy in I-le ven Richard L. Roone}', S.J. "I,"HE Archangel in charge of the recording angels had called a | meeting of the guardians of religious. They were met in his skyey office high above the battlements of heaven. "Quite frankly, Angels, my aide~ are alarmed about this whole business," he was telling them. "The number of 'kicks,' complaints, criticisms and 'crabs' that l)hey have to record for religious is prepos-terous. They're even wondering if these human creatures will be satisfied and happy and content even here in heaven! They have found one hope, however. They feel sure that Purgatory will take all the 'kick' out of these kickers. You Gufirdian Angels do a grand job keeping your charges living up to their vows and observing the larger phases of religious life. It is time, nevertheless, that you went to work on this complaining business. It may relieve their human ,239 RICHARD L. ROO~EY feelings to 'crab' 6r to criticize. It doesn't add to God's glory or to their own merit however. So please, now, to business." The guardians, your own among them, filed out of' .the office and winged earthward. They came, each of them equipped with ques-tionnaires like the following. How would you answer them if your Angel Guardian put one before you during your next examen? 1. Do you find yourself complaining quite often? 2. What (or who!) is your p, et peeve? 3. Do you "kick" about the weather, the c~ll or the room you have, the house you are'in, the food you are. served, the work you have been assigned? 4. Do you ever "crab" about superiors or their directions? 5. Have you a few kindred souls with whom you get together to talk over the way things would be done if you were in charge of them ? 6. Do you firm., and vocalize about it. that the community is a pretty dull, or annoying lot? 7. Are you heaping up a pretty severe judgment for yourself by judging others . . . and that right severely? 81 There is a lot of sense in the little poem: Two men looked through prison bars; One saw mud, the other sad2 stars. Well, what do you see in the rest of us most of the time? 9. Do you accept the ordinary pin-pricks of daily religious life without grumbling? (Remember you are an especially selected member of a thorn-crowned Head.) i0. Can you put all of ydur words and remarks, both within the community and to externs, on the paten of tomorrow's Mass and know that they will be acceptable to God? After scanning the above you may find that it will be a good thing to take your particular examen off such undisturbingly im-practical generalities as humility or charity at large and particularize it at least on keeping a strict guard over your "kicking" tongue. If so, go to it! The best of success to you! Know that you will be a delight not only tO your. fellow religious but to the saints and angels and God Himself as well! 240" Passionist:ic Spiri!:uali!:y' Fidelis Rice, C.P. IN THE INFINITE 'reaches of eternity, within the secret council of the Godhead, the Wisdom and Love of God decreed that all of creation should reflect in.a unique way the ineffable perfections of God. Because God is absolutely infinite--that is, without any limits whatever--no creature could ever exhaust the divine imitabil-ity. Since the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, the Word, is the Exemplar of all that is, iherefore each creature is called upon in its own distinct way to teA1 us a little more. about the vastness, the goodness, and the perfection of the Word. "All things were madd by Him, and without Him was made nothing that was made." In the realm 6f souls our reflection of the divine holiness is to be accomplished by a participation in the Christ-Life. For each soul is predestined from all eternity to manifest in time the eternal Holiness which is God. There is a uniqueness, then, in the destiny of each soul. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who" has blessed us with spirftual blessings in heavenly places, in Christ. As He chose us in Him, before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and unspotted in His sight, in charity." (Ephesians, 1:3, 4.) Here the great Apostle reveals to us that our holiness is planned and designed in eternity, but according to the pattern of Christ. We are all called to mirror the holiness of the Word, but each soul in a different way. There is, then, a wondrous blending of unity and multiplicity in the pattern of holiness. Christ is one, the unique model of all holiness. But because of the limitations of our nature, because of our very creaturehood, each one of us will reflect the holiness of Our Lord in a so.mewhat different way, just as various artists in painting the same subject will use a varying contrast, a difference of light and shadow, greater or less use of chiaroscuro, until the completed can-vases, while basically the same, will manifest vast differences. ¯ So it is that in the various religious orders and societies, approved by the Church, there is a difference of pattern in the design for holi-ness, although, all are dedicated to the one supreme objective--the perfect imitation of Christ. The essential spirit of each religious order is imparted, first of 241 FIDELIS RICE Retaieto for Religious all, by the founder of the institute. Plus XI clearly states that the various founders of religious institute~ were guided in a special way by the Holy Spirit, who seeks alway,s to communicate to the Mysti-cal Body.of Christ the graces purchased by His precious death upon the cross. "For what else did these most illustrious men do in founding their institutes, but obey the inspirations of God? There-fore, let their followers show forth in themselves those characteristic traits which the Founders imprinted upon their several Institutes. Let them not fail in this." ("Unigenitus"; A.A.S., Vol. XVI, p. 133.) The key, therefore, to essential Passionistic spirituality is to ,be found in the life and work of Saint Paul of the Cross, and Passion-ists can be called "Passionists" only insofar as they adhere to his teachings and to his spirit. ° It was the unique genius of Paul of the Cross to combine in one Rule the best features of two apparently contradictory or opposing states of life. For he willed that his religious should cherish and foster the contemplative observance of choir monks, centering all in the liturgical, prayer of the Office, while at the same time fulfilling the sublime vocation of a missionary apostolate. In the mind of Paul of the Cross, missionary activity should flow spontaneously, from the life of prayer, thus verifying the teaching of St. Thomas Aquinas that the function of the apostolate is "tradere contemplata aliis"--"to'give to others the fruits of contemplation." Because the consuming passion of the life of St." Paul of the Cross was love for the sufferings of 2esus Christ, he wanted his religious to share, in a special way, in the redemptive sacrifice of Christ. That is, the Passionist vocation is in a special way a vocation to a life of reparation. The inmost spirit of the Passionist Rule is the spirit of solitude, penanee, poverty, and prayer. In unforgettable language Saint Paul of the Cross described the spirit of his institute in a cir-cular letter which he sent to his religious for the Feast of Pentecost, May 2nd., 1750. "Most beloved Sons, you are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Therefore, as dead to all that is not °God, r~main in the most perfect detachment from all created things, in true poverty of spirit, and in detachment from sensible consola-tions. Assisted by the most holy grace of ,lesus, direct all your zeal to this end--to be recollected in interior solitude; then you will become true adorers of the Sovereign Good in spirit and in truth . Never withdraw from the holy Wounds of Christ, but ever strive 242 September, 1951 PASSIONISTIC SPIRITUALITY more and more that your souls become hidden in and entirely pene-trated by them." (Letters: Vol. IV, p. 226.) Saint Paul of the Cross was one of the most privileged of mys-tical souls with which God has endowed the Church, but his very mysticism bore the unique character of his vocation. For although he received the grace of the "transforming union" or "mystical mar-riage"-- the highest grace of mystical prayer--at a very early age, yet for over fifty years thereafter he continued in the profound suf-ferings of the Dark Night of the Soul, a fact which Father Garrigou7 Lagrange, O.P., calls almost unique in the lives of the saints. Because Paul of the Cross was a master of prayer, it is not to be wondered at that he should insist upon a spirit of constant prayer. for his followers. In his Rule .he states in the very first chapter that "Prayer is one of the chief objects of our Congregation." The Passionist Rule, as it is observed in our monasteries in the United States today, prescribes, beside the Divine Office, two hours of mental prayer each day--an hour in the morning, and an hour in the eve-ning. Including the time that is devoted to the Divine Office; the Passionist, in the daily routine of his monastic day, spends close' to five hours in prgyer. One of the features of Passionistic prayer is the observance of the night office, for Passionists rise ea, ch morning at two o'clock to chant Matins and Lauds before the Blessed Sacrament. This observ-ance lasts one hour, and the religious retire again at three, to rise once more at dawn for Prime and Tierce. This nocturnal observance is one of the cherished ~xercises of the penitential spirit bequeathed by Saint Paul of the Cross to his sons. In order that the spirit of prayer might always be preserved in the Congregation, Saint Paul prescribed most riggrously that Pas-sionist monasteries be built always in places of solitude, and with every safeguard that the spirit of solitude be not violated nor intruded upon. Hence, even when built in the heart of large cities, there must always be sufficient acreage for gardens and privacy for the solitary walks prescribed by rule. Many of our 'American "monasteries are now surrounded by teeming residential sections, but when they were built they stood alone, in the midst of solitude. The cities have come to the monasteries, but because of the wise prescriptions of the Rtile the spirit of solitude is still safeguarded. However, the spirit Of the Passionist Congregation is also a spirit of apostolic activity. As the present Superior General, Most Rev- 243 FIDELIS RICE Review for Religious erend Albert Deane, C.P., wrote in a recent circular letter to the Con-gregatio, n: "On the day it would cultivate the contemplative life ex-clusively, the Congregation would cease to be what 'our Holy Founder instituted. Nor could he be said to be a good Passionist, who without legitimate cause would'omit to do what he could to attain the apostolic end of our Congregation, although under the p.retext of better caring for his own salvation. His religious profes-sion demands otherwise of him." In this ~ame document, our Most Reverend Father General has beautifully epitomized the heart of the Passionistic spirituality: "For our spirit, dearest Sons, can be likened to a'pyramid, made of the spirit of prayer, penance, and the apostolate, but held together by the fire of devotion to Christ suffering, having no other apex to which the ~exalted Passionist life converges than our configuration to Christ Crucified, whom we must preach by word and by example: 'We preach Christ and Him Crucified.' This is what the words say which we carry engraven over our hearts; this reminds us, if perhaps we sometimes forget, of our very name itself, for we are popularly called 'Passionists'.',' . The primary work of the Passionist Congregation, then, is a reflection of its inner'spirituality--the preaching of popular mis-sions, and retreats to the clergy and religious, as well as to the laity. Passionists conduct no schools, except for the education i~f their own subjects. They engage in parish work only as an exception, and for clearly defined needs in a particular locality. They are above all, preachers of the Passion of 3esus Christ. To this end they take a special vow to promote in the hearts of others, devotion to the Pas-sion of oresus Christ. They do, however, engage in foreign mission work, and they are likewise working among the colored in the South. Saint Paul of the Cross was a staunch advocate of enclosed re-treats for the laity. Cherishing, as he did, the wonderful advan-tages of holy solitude, it is not surprising that he would wish to share these advantages and blessings with the laity. And so he wrote into his Rule the prescription that in each monastery rooms should be provided for lay retreatants. In most of our American monasteries we have special retreat houses for men, and a flourishing retreat movement is an integral part of our Passionist family life. Because Paul of the Cross was consumed by the love of Jesus Christ Crucified, he burned with the desire to bring the riches of His death to the souls of men. He was profoundly aware of the 244 September, 1951~ . PASSIONISTIC SPIRITUALITY meaning of the priestly vocation, and realized fully that a p~iest must always communicate to the Mystical Body 6f Christ the life purchased by the sufferings of Ouk Lord. But he knew, too, that the most fruitful apostolate is that which is the overflow of prayer, rather than a substitute for it. Hence it was that no matter how gifted a missionary might be, no matter how eloquent on the mission-platform, and no matter how great the demand for his services, Saint Paul of the Cross rig- . orously required that each missionary spend a suitable portion of.the year in the solitude and quiet of the monastery. Although far wise to reduce this to a mathematical formula, the founder of the Passionists imposed upon superiors and missionaries alike the obli-gation to. preserve always in the Congregation this time of with-drawal each year from the exhausting round of activity. The demands for our services have grown with the years, and no fixed calend,a'r tan be drawn up which governs the exact details, but our superiors still strive faithfully and sincere!y to arrange the schedule for-each mis-sionary, so that he may spend a sufficient amount of time.withih the mona.stery each year. Saint Paul of the Cross was profoundly con-vinced that "one Religious who is a. man of prayer and lover of solitude will bring forth more spiritual fruit from the ministry than a thousand others who are not such." (Letters, Vol. III, 418.) .,. The Passlonlst family circle is made up of three groups: tl~e priests, the students or clerics, "and the lay brothers. ¯ In most of our American monasteries all three groups are found, for most of our monasteries are also houses of study, or seminaries in which young men are preparing for the priesthood. Our lay brothers, a shitable time after the profession of their perpetual vows, are admitted to }ecreation with the priests; and the recreation is common ~f(;r these two groups. The students remain always in a separate r~creation. The day's horarium.is divided bet.ween prayer and study. The day is spent in silence, except for the two brief recreation periods each day. Three days of fast and abstinence are .observed each week-- Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. During the entire time of Ad-vent and Lent, Sundays included, abstinence from meat is the rule within the monastery. Paul 6f the Cross does not want his sons to forget that t,hey must bd men of penance. For this reason, too, san-dals are worn on the bare feet, and a ro.ugh woolen h.abit is worn the year round. The Passionistic ideal;" then, is to share as intimately as possible 245 FIDELIS RICE. o in the sublime virtues which shone, forth so re~splendently on Cal-vary. It is the vocation proclaimed so sublimely by Saint Paul the Apostle in his Epistle to the Colossians: "Who now rejoice in my sufferings foF you, and fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ in my flesh, for His body, which is the Church." (Colossians, 1:25.) So it was that that other P~ul, Paul of the Cross, sought to instill into his followers a burning love for the Crucified, a love which would make them conform their own lives by penance, solitude, prayer, and poverty, to the ideals of Calvary, that they might go forth to preach the glories and the ignominies of the Cross of Jesus Christ. The r~assionist spirit might be summed up in one word, "Stau-rosophy," for "stauros" is the Greek word for the Cross.; ,The sons of Paul o'f the Cross must remain ever absorbed by the wisdom or the "philc~sophy" of the Cross. Wisely has the Church selected the Introit for the Mass on the Feast of St. Paul of the Cross: "Christ0 confixus sum cruci." . "With Christ I am nailed to the cross." (Ga-latians, 2:19.) No other words of Sacred Scripture could epitomize more simply the ess.dntial spirit of this great lover of the Crucified, and of the form of life which he has bequeathed to his sons, who wear that habit of mourning first shown to Paul of the Cross in vision, by the Mother of God, when she told him to founc~ an order whose members would devote their lives to mourning for the sor-rows of Her Son. OUR CONTRIBUTORS F1DELIS RICE, writer and missionary, is on the mission band at St. Joseph's Passionist Monastery, Baltimore, Maryland. J. PUTZ, the editor Of Clergg Month-lg and author of Mg Mass, and P.DE LETTER, a recent contributor to American ecclesiastical journals, teach at St. Mary's theologate, Kurseong, India¯ RICHARD L. ROONEY is on the Queen's Work staff and editor of Action Now. C.A. HERBST and CLARENCE MCAULIFFE are o£ the faculty of St. Mary's College, St. Marys, Kansas, . , : PLEASE NOTE CAREFULLY The sul~scripfion pHce of REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS is now: $3.00"per year for" Domestlc.end ,Canadian subscriptions; $3.35 per yeer for all for~icjn subscrip-fio'ns. For further de~'ails please see inside back cover. 246 Modesty C. A. Herbst, S.J. ~4 ~t man's looks betray him: a man of good sense will make him-self known to thee at the first meeting; the clothes he wears, . the smile on his lips, his gait~ will all make thee acquainted with a man's character" (Ecclus. 19:26, 27. Knox version). This' is the Holy Spirit's description of modesty. Following His directive, St. Thomas teIIs us that this virtue is concerned with "the movement and actions of the body; that all of them, those gone through in fun as well as the serious ones, may be decent and proper." (Summa Theologica, 2-2, q. 160, a. 2.) Dress is also included. The cardinal virtue of temperance controls pleasure coming from food, drink, and ' sex, the most difficult things. Modesty, a part of temperance, takes care of the lesser. A subordinate in the hierarchy of authority takes ~in hand the little things. Modesty is therefore not at all the s~me thing' as chastity or purity, as many quite commonly presume, though it may be more or less connected with it. Not one's interior only but one's exti~rior, too, must be con-formed to the .norm of right reason. The easy and evident way for u_s to strive to achieve this is "to imitate Christ. "We must look with the eyes of the soul on that wonderful leader 'beautiful above the sons of men' in the ordinary dress He wore at home . Erect of body and with perfect composure His gait was neither too hurried nor too slow. There was nothing soft or effeminate, not.hiog childish or lackadaisical about Him. Neither could anything gloomy or exasperating be seen in Him, nor was there any assumed gravity. He was not singular nor finicky. His Whole being breathed sweetness, joy, kindness, majesty." (Le Gaudier, De Perfectione Vitae Spirit-ualis, Pars IV, caput xviii.). "Jesus began to do and to teach," first to tellus by His exampl~ how tb act, only later by His words. Our exterior modesty should be, as His, for the glory of God. "So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven." It should make us more like God. "God cre~ ~ted man to his 6wn image: to the "image of God he created him." Man's likeness to God is, of course, in the soul, in his interior sanc-tity, but that interior dignity and perfection should shine forth, so 247 ¯ C. A. HERBST Reoeiw [or Religiou~ to speak, in the ,modesty of his exterior as through a beautiful and translucent garment, or as the rays of the sun make a cloud all silver and gold. That "image of God" ou.ght somehow to be mani-fested in the body. "Because man's body alone of all the animals on earth is not bowed down to the ground but so made that it can better contemplate the heavens, it can justly be said' that it is made more t6 the image and likeness of God than the bodies of other animals, as Augustine says. But this must not be understood to mean that the image of God is in man's body but that the very form of. the human body represent.s the likeness of God in the soul like a trace." (S. Th., 1, ,q. 93, a. 6.) The importance of modesty in the life of a religious can hardly be overestimated. One is forced to this conclusion from reading the masters of the spiritual life and by noting the Christian tradition through the centuries. The statement made by St. Ambrose in this matter is a classic. "Modesty must be preserved in our very move-ment, carriage, and gait. Our habit of mind is reflected in our body. "Thence the real man hidden away in the heart, the light-headed 6r careless or turbulent man or, on the contrary, the more serious or steady or more upright or more mature man can be ascertained. The motion of the body, therefore, can be called the voice of ~he soul." (De Of Kciis, I, 18.) St. Bernard says: "Modesty is the greatest of orn~ments in reli-gious, especially in the young. This is so true that if they do not cherish it there is little hope of their becoming good or virtuous . Lack of external composure in the body is a sign of an indevout mind." (Ad Quid Venisti?, xvii.) Knowing how very closely bod~r and soul are united we are not surprised to hear Hugh of St. Victor say: "As of a wandering mind are born disordered move-ments of the body, so when the body is brought under discipline the soul is made strong. Little'by little the mind within is brought to rest when under the watchful eye of dis.cipline its disorderly move- "ments are not allowed to flow to the exterior." (Delnstttuttone' " " Novitiorum, X.) So exterior modesty m.akes even a greater contri-bution to the soul than it does to the body. St. Vincent Ferrer'thought that a warrior of Christ could never free his soul from disorder if he did not first endeavor to rid his body of what was unseemly. From all of which it would seem to be clear why modesty is so much emph.asized in the beginning of the re!igious life: modesty of action and, incidentally, "modesty of words," which 248 Septernber~ 195 l MODESTY is silence. Even a beginner.can superimpose upon himself external order in the blessed hope that from it will come to him an array of spiritual goods. For it is easier to bring one's exterior under subjec-tion than one's interior. Mqdesty has a great apostolic value. St. Basil says that a virgin should "be seen by those who n~eet her to be such in habit and gait and every movement as to reflect the likeness of God. The eyes of those who behoId her should be incited to modesty and their mind instructed in virtue. They.should hold that sight in honor and, as I have said, show deference to and revere that image of God. As pictures of' satyrs make one laugh and as sad pictures fill the mind , with sorrow . so a virgin, since she is the picture--nay, the very reproduction--of purity, should even if merely seen raise the thoughts of those who behold her up to God . Avirgin, therefore, should be very careful to reproduce in herself the divine image in all t.hings." (Patrologia Graeca, 30, 714-715.) St. Francis of Assisi was most eloquent by his modesty. "It is told ofthe blessed St. Francis that he said one day to his companion, ~'Let us go to preach,' and so went out, took a turn in the city, and returned home. His companion said to him: 'BUt father, are v~e not preaching?' 'We have already preached,' he answered. That sedate-ness and modesty with which they, went through the streets was a very good sermon; it moved people to devotion and to contempt of the world, to compunction for their sins, .and to the raising of their hearts, and desires to the.things of the next world. This is a sermon in action, more effectual than one in w6rd.". (Rodriguez, Practice of Perfection and Christian Virtues, II, x, 1.) The very sight of the young Saints Aloysius, Stanislaus, John Berchmans, and Gabriel of the Sorrowful Mother raised men's hearts to God. The gr.eat in-fluence for good of the pr.ayerfuI, recollected, and modest bearing of those who love God is but another striking instance of "actions speaking louder than words." That is why St. Ignatius said: "And hence it will follow that, considering one another, they will increase in devotion and praise our Lord God, whom every one must strive to acknowledge in another as in His image." (Constit. S.d., P. III, c. i, n, 4.) .The beginner must practice modesty, and by doing so he exer- Cises himself in many virtues. But modesty is also the mark of the perfect. A well-ordered exterior shows great interior'perfectlon. The man who has achieved this has already made great'prggr.ess. One 249 C. A. HER,BST Reveiu~ for Relig:ous who habitually and gracefully has his exterior under control has gone far in the direction of self-mastery. If one has to be mortified to be decent, as our novice master used to say, what constant mortifi-cation and vigilance must be necessary .to put on the modesty of Christ. For this, persevering and almost heroic self-conquest is neces-sary. In this connection it might be well to remark that if we put ourselves through the discipline and took all the pains from a super-natural motive to put on modesty, which is the etiquette of God's ch.ildren, that the children of .the world do to don good manners in public and social life, our merit would i~deed be surpassing great and our spirit of sacrifice supreme. "And they indeed that they may receive a corruptible crown; but we an incorruibtible one" .(I Cor. 9:25). But then, "the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light" (Luke 16:8). Founders of religious orders have given special directives, "rules of modesty," for regulating external deportment. As those given by St. Ignatius of Loyola even now influence many thousands of reli-gious, it might be well to give some of them here. "All must be exactly careful to guard the gates of their senses (especially their eyes, their ears, and their tongue) from all disorder, and preserve themselves in peace and true internal humility, showing it in silence when it is to be kept, and when they have to speak, in the circum-spection. and, edification of their words, in the modesty of tbelr coun-tenance, gravity of their gait and whole carriage, without any sign of impatience or prided' (Constit. S.d., P. III, c. 1, n. 4.) "In all out-ward actions there should appear modesty and humility, joined with religious gravity. The bead should not be turned this way and that way lightly, but with gravity, when need shall require; and, if there be no need, it must be held straight, with a little inclination forward, without leaning on either side. For the most part, they should keep their eyes dowfi, neither immoderately lifting them up, nor casting them now one way., now another. Wrinkles on the forehead, and still more on the nose, are to be avoided, that there may appear out-wardly a serenity which may be a token of that which is interior. The whole countenance should show cheerfulness rather than sadness or any less moderate affection. The lips must neither be too much. shut nor too much open. The pace should be moderate, without any notable has,.te, unless necessity should require it; in which case, however, a care of decorum should be had. In fine, every gesture and movement should be such as to give edification to all men." (Rule~ 250 September, .MODESTY or: Modesty.). St. Paul says in another connection: "When I was a child,. I °spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child. But, when I became a man, I put away the tlSings of a child" (I Cor. 13: 11).'A child must hear and see and taste and smell and touch every-thing. But when he grows up he is willing to put away the things of a child--nay, is eager to. We can hardly imagine a grown-up going on playing with his toys. A man loses taste for such things. So is one as he becomes spiritually mature gradually weaned away, as he attains to th~ full stature of Christ, from the surface pleasure of the senses and the allurements of sense satisfaction. This is the more true the more he grows to relish the things of God. Then the curious ears and roving eyes and anything unbecoming in the countenance. carriage, and gait of childhood give place to that maturity and serenity proper to men and women at horhe with their Father the King. The practice of modesty is not only for religious propriety, or edification, or mortification, or to foster recollection, or to make pos-sible and encourage spiritual development and high interior activity. It is also to keep, our soul from becoming sick or maimed by venial sin or perhaps even killed by mortal sin. "Death is come .up through our windows" said the prophet (Jer.°9:21). St. Bernard comment~: "Death enters our windows when, with prying eyes and itching ears. we insist upon administering to ourselves the deadly cup of distrac-tion." (Sermo 24 in Cantic.) And St. Ambrose: "Who, midst so many bodily passions, midst so many snares of this world, can go along safe and undefiled? The eye sees: the mind is perverted. The ear bears: our attention is drawn away. We sm~ll something: our thoughts are 9bstructed. The lips drink: sin enters in. We touch" something, and we are inflamed with desire." (De Fuqa Saeculi, cap. 1.) That is why Christ, so mindful of human, weakness, instituted for the very end of life a special sacrament for the removal of the re-mains of sin contracted through seiase experience. At the last anointing the priest places the~holy oil "'on the eyes because of sight, on the ears because of hearing, on the nostrils because of smell, on the mouth bedauseof taste and speech, on the hands because of touch, on the feet because of Walking" (Council of Flore~nce, Decretum pro .Arrnenis) saying: "By this holy anointing and.by His most tender mercy may the Lord forgive you whatever guilt you have con- 251 C. A. HERBST tracted." St. Thomas explains: "This sacrament was instituted to" heal us. For a bodily cure we do not take medicine that will restore the whole body but those parts in which the root of the disease lies~ So the sacramental anointings should be made only on those parts where is found the root of the spiritual sickness." (S. Th., Suppl. q. 32, a. 5.) In conclusion, let us listen.again to a few words from that great master of the spiritual Jife, St. Bernard. "With the brethren be re-served, gracious, modest, affable, gentle, and on your guard. Be .strict with yourself but not in such a way as to be a nuisance to others . Every gesture and word, your way of acting, look, gait should be characterized by modesty and reserve. Let there appear nothing con-ceited or stilted in you, no boldness or anything overbea.ring . As the fear of the Lord puts order into a man's lif~ and prepares his whole interior for blessedness, so modesty brings his exterior under subjection. You should not become so familiar with anyone as to be completely forgetful of propriety in his presence." (Ad Quid Venisti?, xvii.) After all, "we are made a spectacle to the world, and to angels, and to men'~ (I.Cor. 4:9). And His Divine Majesty is always pres-ent, too. "In him we live, and move, and are" (Acts 17:28); ETUDE SUR LA PAUVRETE RELIGIEUSI: The Sisters of Providence (Les Soetirs de la Providence) in Montreal have "trans-lated into French six articles on poverty which appeared in the REVIEW FOR RELI-GIOUS and published them in a booklet. The articles are: "M~y Religious Buy and Sell" (V, 50) and the "Gifts to Religious" series by Adam C. Ellis, S.J.; and 'The Spirit of Poverty" (VIII, 35) by" Joseph F. Gallen, S.J. The "Gifts" se-ries includes: "The Simple Vow of Poverty" (VI, 65), "Common Life and Pe-culium" (VII, 33), "Personal versus Community Property" (VII, 79, and "Some Practical Cases" (VII, 195). Copies of the booklet, called Etude sur la Pauvret3 2eliqleuse, may be obtained from P~ovidence Mother House, 2311, rue Ste-Cath-erine Est, Montreal 24, P.Q., Canada. Cost: 40 cents per single copy; 35 cents in dozen lots or more. ¯PLEASE NOTE C~AREFULLY The subscription price of REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS is now: $3.00 per veer for Domestic end Cenedian subscriptions: $3.35 per year for ell foreign subscrip-tions. For further deteils pleese see inside beck cover. 252 The race ot: Our Vocal:ion P. De Letter, S.J. [EDITORS' NOTE: In the March number of this year the author of "Why Do They Leave?" concluded the article with an inspiring section headed "Why Do We Stay?" In the present article Father De Letter's analysis of the grace of our voca-tion forms something of a theological counterpart and complement to the latter question. He points out the different graces included in the grace of vocation, namely, the grace of state, the grace of perseverance, the grace of progress, the grace of keeping the rules, and the grace of supererogation. He next gives the solid theological basis for trust in the grace of vocation and concludes by describing God's part, the actual graces of light" and strength, and ours, the conditions for our 'trust. "I will put great trust in the grace of my vocation," wrote St. John Berch-roans among the first of his watchwords. It is of this gr~ice of vocation that Father De Letter writes.] ~i~/JE 'OFTEN HEAR or read about the grace of our religious W" vocation. No doubt we often thank Our Lord for this most precious 6f His gifts. Wi~at exactly is it? Spiritual au-thors use the phrase in a twofold sense, first as the free divine gift by which God calls to the religious life, and secondly as the special helps of grace which enable religious, who have followed the divine call, to meet the demands of their state and to persevere in it till death. 'The second meaning, that of the special helps, of the grace of our vocation will be used. This grace is a reality of our everyday life.,If we allow it to play its part to the full, it may and does make a difference for our own pe£sonal interests and for the souls for whom we labor. For this reason it is well worth studying more closely what the grace of vocation implies and what is the basis of our trust in it. Then it' will be self-evident how we should exploit this God-sent treasure. Grace of State All religiogs, we are told, are offered and receive the grace proper to their vocation. As any other Christians, those who are called to a definite state of life with its definite purpose are offered by the Lord the graces necessary to pursue ,effectively the end of their vocation. This is true both of the general l~urpose of every religious life, which is to seek after Christian perfectioia.or holiness, and of the specific end of each particular order or congregation. Grdce of" Perseuerance in God's Friendship ¯ First'of all, religious are offered and, unless they'wilfully refuse, ~.ctual!y recei~re the actual graces needed to remain permanently on the path thatleads to perfection, "that is, to persevere in sanctifying grace. 253 P. DE LETTER Review for Religious These graces are needed. Theologians commonly teach that without the help of God's grace no one can maintain himself in His friend-ship, because fallen human nature is weak and inclined to evil. But these graces are always offered, theologians reassure us, to all who sincerely endeavour to 'please God and to preserve His love and friendship. And why? Because God's love is faithful: He does not allow to be sr~atched from His hands those who sinqerely desire to be His. If that is the case for all Christians in the state of grace, then it is more true for those whom a special divine call ~lestines for an ever growing perfection of grace. Religious, therefore, m~y count in a special way, by virtue of their very state in life, on the fidelity of the Giver of all graces. He enables them day after day and hour after hour throughout their religious life to avoid every grievous fault. Grace of Progress There is more than that. It is the fundamental duty of state for religious to advance continually in grace and perfection. That again is not possible without the help of God's grace. Our faith teaches us,. infallibly, that no good work for heaven can be performed with-out God;s gracious help. If that is so, and if religious grow in grace precisely by the works of virtue ' (and the reception of the sa.crame,nts, which grace enables them to do properly), then we must say that their Fathe~ in heaven, who is Love, cannot expect them to do thes~ works and not give them the needed help which He alone can give. That is why religious have and receive the graces necessary for the good works that are to lead them on to perfection, the goal of their vocation. ' Grace of Keeping the Rules and Obeying What are these good works? They are, naturally, commanded by the specific end of each religious institute. Concretely, they are laid down in the rules and constitutions: these outline the particular manner in which a religious vocation is to work out its ideal of Christian perfection, These laws and ways, therefore, differ for different institutes.' Hospital sisters, teaching religious, and contem-platives, are not expected to labour for perfection by exactly the same good works. Their respective rules point out to them "by which paths they are'to draw nearer to God. To follow these pathh ~nd no other, each one in the particular.office that is assigned him by the inst.itu, te and. in the community where obedience placed him, .is pnmista.kably the du.ty of state of. every re, ligious. And so all.~e.li- 254 September, 1~ 1 THE GRACE OF OUR VOCATION gious are offered each day the necessary grace to keep the rules and-fulfil their office: because fidelity to these duties is the concrete way for them to advance towards perfection and fidelity is not possible without these graces. Not every Christian, theologians teach, is at all times offered the grace needed for good works which are not of precept but are supererogatory, because, there is no clear indication that God's will demands these works from them. Only for such good works as are certainly willed by the Lord may we expect His grace to be guaran-teed. But the case of religious is a special one. Though the good ~works demanded by their rules are not, genera'lly speaking, strictly of precept (not at any rate when the religious laws do not bind under pain of sin) and are therefore in a true sense supererogatory, yet the very nature of religious rule implies that God clearly wills those works. His good pleasure and desire is expressed in the rules. By that very fact He also guarantees to ~eligious the necessary graces, ;¢¢ithout which they would be unable to comply with His good pleasure. , This conclusion applies equally to the acts of virtue which obedi-ence to superiors imposes on religious. Commands of religious supe-riors generally (exception being made for orders given in virtue of holy obedience, in whicJ~ the vows are involved) bring to their sub-jects the same kind of obligatiofi as the rules impose. As such, therefore, they do not bind under sin; yet they express to us unmis-takabl~ y the divine wishes. Religious receive the necessary actual graces for obeying the orders of their superiors as they do for keeping the rules. Though these acts of virtue, because not imposed under sin, are supererogatory in the strict sense of the word, yet they are, for religious, guaranteed as possible by the grace of their vocation. "Grace for Supererogatory Acts of Virtue There are additional virtuous actions which are not demanded of religious by rule nor by orders of superiors, but to which, they believe, a special inspiration of the Hgly Ghost invites them. Such good works, for example, extra .acts of mortification, or prayer, or humility, or kindness, are altogether free in the sense that no rule nor direction of obedience imposes them. These are not immediately covered by the grace of the religious vocation. To them will apply the teaching of theologians about supererogatory good works: not unless the invitation of God's grace be sufficiently proved genuine and ?eliablecan they count on His special help to follow up these inspira- 255 P. DE LETTER Review for Religtous tions. It should be added, however, that religious are, from their very state of. life, more opeh to these special invitations of grace. Why?" Because their fundamental duty of state is to aspire after perfection, and not all particulars that appertain to the practice of perfection are or can be determined by the rules or by obedience. Accordingly, religious need these special inspirations. Other things being equal, there is a greater probability that in the case of religious these inspirations of grace are genuine and reliable. To that extent and in that 'indirect way they also belong to the grace of the voca-tion. At this juncture the task of the spiritual director comes in to provide rehglous with sufficient guarantee that allows them safely to follow up these interior invitations. Without this sanction the danger of self-delusion would be real. That danger is excluded from all that falls within clearly known duty. Herein religious may and must depend on it that grace will not be wanting them, if only they themselves are not wanting to grace. Why is it so? Whai: is the dogmatic and theological basis of our trust in the grace of o.u.r vocation? Doctrinal Basis of Our Trust We have already hinted at the intrinsic reason why the grace of our vocation includes all the particular graces needed to fulfill our duties according to the rules and constitutions and the commands of the superiors. It is the following. God cannot command the impos-sible, because of His infinite wisdom and lo,;,e. Of religious He asks a constant strivin~g after perfection: that is the meaning of the reli-gious vocation. They find the concrete way to strive for perfection detailed in the laws of their institutes and the directions of their supe-riors. But to do all that is involved in keeping the rules and in obeying, many good works are needed which no man, religious not excepted, is able to do without the help of grace.: For two reasonsi both because these virtuous actions require a faithful effort which after original sin is not possible for long without grace; and because these acts are supernatural and of their very nature suppose the super-natural help of grace. If then God expected religious to live up to the demands of their vocation and did not at the s~me time give them ~he necessary graces, He would be demanding the impossible. Dogmatic Foundation The. ultimate foundation of this conclusive proof is nothing less than the highest possible authority on revealed truth: ,the infallible 256' ,September, 1~51 THE GRACE OF O~JR VOCATION teaching of the Church. The Council of Trent defined that it is not impossible for men to keep God's commandments; it condemned the contrary assertion of the Lutherans as heretical doctrine (DB 828). In St. Augustine's words the Council explained how men can, in spite of fallen nature's weakness, have the moral strength to do what God commands: "When He commands, He admonishes you to do what you can and to ask for help to do what you cannot, and He helps so that you can" (DB 804). Later. the Church condemned another heretical proposition of dansenistic pessimism which stated that "just men cannot keep some precepts of God even though they wish and try to do so, with the strength they now have; and the graze which would enable them to keep those commandments is also lacking" (DB I092). An infallible teaching, therefore, guarantee, s that we have the necessary graces to keep the commandments. That teaching aimed directly at those divine precepts which oblige under pain of sin, particularly of mortal sin. It may also be extended, though this conclusion is no longer infallible, to divine commands in a less strict serise of the word: to those expressions of the divine will which, though not binding under sin, .yet certainly manifest His desire ind. good pleasure. The Church's Authorit~I This latter is the case, as we well know, of the ordinary religious rules. We have a guarantee for it in the Church's approval both of religious life in general and of the particular religious institutes. The ¯ Church's sanction of the state oflife lived accordin'g to the three evangelical counsels is found in her age:old practice, which dates back td the early Cbristlan centuries, of approving and encouraging tbe monastic institute and the ascetical life. At the time of the Refor-mation it led to an infallible pronouncement, again at the Tridentine Council, by which she declared that the state of viriginity or celibacy is preferable to the state of Matrimony (DB 980). As to the appro-bation of particular institutes, theologians today are agreed in saying that in the solemn approval of religious orders the doctrinai judg-ment that the religious orders,, are apt means to reach Christian per-fection is covered by the Church's infallibility. In the less solemn .confirmation of other religious institutes, the Church's authority in-' volved is not the big.best; yet. that.approval also shares, according.to .the. degree, of the authority" that gives it, in the same fundamental guar.ant~.e:.of truth which is divine. Accordi,ngly? Catholic theology ¯' 257 P. DE LETTER Review for Religious is unanimous, in declaring that the obligation for religious to work for perfection according to the pattern designed in their respective laws is, because of the Church's approbation, the'clear expression of God's will for them. "On this doctrinal foundation rests the teaching of theologians who, like Suar~z, hold that the grace of a religious vocation includes the spe.cial supernatural aids required to live up to the ideal which is proposed to the religious by their institute. He wrote: "Since all ap-proved religious orders are deservedly regarded as founded by the special Providence of God, there is no doubt that each enjoys a'spe-cial divine assistance proportionate to its vocation, and hence greater in proportion as its institute is more exalted and difficult and organ-ized for the greater service of God and the more far-reaching good of the Church" (Rel. S.J., I, 6, 9). What holds good for reli-gious orders as a whole, also applies to the members. The graces of their vocation which effectively enable them to pursue the end of their institute are the concrete expression of the divine assistance that flows from God's special Providence over them. Religious, therefore, are building .their trust on the safe rock of Peter when they firmly believe in the grace of their vocation. More-over, does not the experience of the religioh~ life come to teach them that the Lord does not disappoint that trust? When and in the measure that they are faithful to their calling, they find out what these graces of our vocation mean in practice. Graces of Light and Strength As actual graces in general, so the graces of our vocation are of two kinds which, more often perhaps, are found together rather than isolated. First there is light for the mind, generally more affective and practical" than purely sp~e~uiative and cold (for they are meant to lead to action), by which the meaning and reality of the religious ideal, duties, privileges, favors, appear more clearly, more appealingly, and more exaltedly worthwhile. These' actual graces of light, on occa-sion standing out very markedly, at other times more dim yet really present, give a deeper and new understanding of the rules, of the ideal of poverty; chastity, obedience, of the community life and of our daily tasks of education, missionary work, medical charity, sacred "ministry so that the good works by which religious strive after sand-tity. take on their deep, often hidden, meaning. Together with that light goes a grace of strength and courage for'the will and heart, 25'8 September, 1951 THE GRACE OF OUR VOCATION tempering and steeling one"s whole moral an~ spiritual structure, actually enabling religious to live according to their light. These graces of fortitude, patience, and ability, make Jrpossible to keep up ¯ the effort for progress, and bravely and gladly to accept and take up the small and on occasion bigger crosses involved in the faithful ful-filment of their daily duties. These graces of strength, at times ex-perienced more forcibly, at other times, perhaps more commonly, perceived in humble and dim faith, smoothen the path towards per-fection which often is rough and always uphiIl. The remembrance of these graces received in the past is a precious confirmation" of Our faith and trust in the grace of our vocation. Condition of Our Trust That faith and trust is rightly ours on one condition: that we do, sincerely and hum.bly, what in us lies to answer the graces we receive. There is little need to insist on the first and foremost part in this cooperation with grace which we may take for granted, namely, that we live in the state of sanctifying grace. Progress in grace supposes the st'ate of grace. Unless the substance of the spiritual life be there, we cannot expect further grace~ for progress. These graces, according to the ordinary rule of Divine Providence, are usually given in proportion to oui" fidelity in accepting and answering them. One way of showing this desire of receiving and exploiting those graces is our faithful and insisting prayer for them. According to the hint of the Council of Trent we quoted above, our asking for graces may well be the condition for receiving them. We may even count on the abundant divine aids guaranteed by the grace of our vocation if we sincerely and generously trade for spiritual profit with those we receive. No doubt even then no one can vouch for it that he will never fail God's grace, even though grace does not fail him. We know it too well, human frailty remains in religious as well. And we need not be surprised at our daily faults of weakness which, we may confi-dently hope, involve but little guilty negligence. Provided. only we know how to exploit those very failings to deepen humility and a sense of our need of prayer and trust in the Lord, they do not seri-ously impair our fidelity to grace. Our desires and deeds continue then to express our sincere gratitude for God's great gift, our call to the religious life. Then we may and must always count on the grace of our vocation. 259' A Vocational Newspaper [Contact, a bright, four-page, two-year-old vocational newspaper from the arch-diocese of Boston, may be of interest to readers of the REVIEW who are not ac-quainted with it. The following description was written by a staff member of the publication. For further information write to: Director of Vocations, Room 622, 185 Devonshire St., Boston, M~,ss. ED.] Maintaining that "Personal contact between an interested priest or religious and a good potential candidate becomes the only real vocation program," Father Francis A. Barry, director of vocations in the Boston archdiocese, thought that a vocational newspaper might provide a natural occasion for conversation or 'even extended talks on religious vocations. The paper was given the significant name: Contact. Experience has shown the idea was a 'good one. Contact, a monthly during the school year, began publicati.o.n in October, 1949. His Excellency, the Most Reverend Richard J. Cushing, Archbishop of Boston, the founder of the special vocational program, is the adv.isory editor. The editor is Father Barry. He is assisted by eight associate, a makeup, and ten contributing editors. The latter include diocesan and religious priests, Brothers, and Sisters who write columns, features, reviews, and editorials. His Excellency financed the project during its initial year. The religious orders and congregations having houses in the archdiocese shared the major ex-pense since then. , Distributed gratis" to pupils of parochial or other Catholic schools, from the seventh grade through the senior year in school as well as to Sunday schools, rectories, and seminaries, the circulation now tops 50,000." Increased solely by ~ear-say advertising, the mailing li~t now re'aches out to thirty-one s.tates, the Philippine's, Cuba, Italy; France and Canada. The italicized, three-column, colored logotype carries the triple message: Information, Inspiration, and Action. To attract the young people's attention, each issue is printed with bright color spots, ac.cording to the season or month. Adjacent to some of the standing heads appears a small portrait of the editor of the column, showing his religio.us habit ahd giving his name and address. Feature pictures and action shots of'the apostolate of teaching or social service highlight each issue. Provocative headlines dot the pages: It Seems to Me . Horizons, Meet. some religious com- 260 September, 1951 COMMUNION FOR OTHERS ~nunity, Looking Out . thought from the seminary or the novi-tiate, Do You KnoW?, Parents" Column, and Around tile Diocese. Parochial high school reporters keep copy flowing to the desk of the editor of the last-mention~ed column. Contact reiterates the words of His Holiness, Pope Pius XII: "This vcJcation, thisloving call makes itself heard in manydifferent ways, as many as the infinite variety of accents in which the Divine Voice may speak: irresistible invitations, affectionate and repeated promptings,gentle impulses."--SISTER MARY REGINA, S.S.,J. Offering Communion t:or.Ot:hers Clarence McAuliffe, S.3. SISTER LOUISA sat placidly at her desk filling out the spiritual bouquet. It was the community's gift to Sistdr Mercedes who was to make her p~ofession next day. Sister Louisa was adding her contribution to the various specified good works-- rosaries, s{ations, visits, penances,, aspirations, Masses, Communions. It was an easy and congenial task and she contributed generously. But when she had finished, she found a question e.ngaging her mind,. a question she had never asked herself before. She had added five to the total of Commuriions to be offered for Sister Mercedes. 3ust what did it mean to offer Communion for somebody else? She ~had been doing it for many years. Her relatives and friends were always pleased when she told them that she would offer her Communion for them. Yet she had to confess now that she really did not know what she meant wh'en she told them that'she would offer her Communion for their intention. Many religious besides Sister Louisa have been puzzled by the same question. Nor is its answer easy to find. The purpose of this article is to clarify what we mean when we tell others that we are going to offer our Communion for them. It is important to remember that Communion produces certain effects that are inalienable. For instance, Communion automatically increases sanctifyin~ grace and most probably has the power,to con-fer more of this grade than any other sacrament. We do not transfer 261 - CLARENCE MCAULIFFE Ret~ieto for R'eligious any of this to others when we offer our Communion for them. Again, the increase of active love for Go~t and our neighbor which is the .special effect of the Eucharist and which depends on the fervor of our thanksgiving, is not surrendered by offering Communion for somebo~ly else. So too, the strength to resist temptations, the cooling of disordered feelings, since these are special though secondary effects of Communion and depend also on the fervor of one's thanksgiving, are incommunicable. The same is t6 be said of the additional right to a glorious bodily resurrection which is acquired by the worthy reception of Communion. Finally, the remission of venial sins which results automatically from Communion, if the recipient has sincerely revoked all wilful attachment to them, cannot be transferred to any other person. From all this it is ~lear that the principal benefits accruing from the Lord's Table remain with the communicant. In fact it might appear that no spiritual gifts remain which can lend real meaning to our promise to offer Communion for somebody else. But there are. When we ~o to Holy Communion we ordinarily do extra praying and a certain ambunt of mortification. We make a suitable prepara-tion and thanksgiving. We also fast beforehand. Now we all know that prayer and fasting are subjective acts of virtue, ~nd when made by a person in the state of grace, they have a three-fold value in the sight of God. For the sake of brevity, the theologians use tbre'e tech-nical words to express this three-fold efficacy. They say 'it is "meri-torious, satisfactbry, and impetrative." What they mean is that every act of virtue wins more sanctifying grace (meritorious efficacy), removes some temporal punishment (satisfactory), and pleads with God for spiritual and temporal favors (impetrative). In addition, therefore, to the sanctifying grace which comes spontaneously from each Communion, a person also gets more sanc-tifying grace from his acts of virtue elicited before and after receiving the sacrament. Since we can never give one iota of sanctifying grace, no matter by what means it is acquired, to another person, it is evi-dent that the grace proceeding from these acts of virtue at Commun-ion time is also retained by the communicant. However, the satisfactory and impetrative efficacy of these acts may be relinquished in favor of others when we offer Communion for them. Suppose we consider first the gift we make when we hand over the satisfactory fruits of our Communions. Ordinarily we are able to make a fitting preparation for the 262 oep*e,noer, I95 ! COMMUNION FOR OTHERS reception of Holy Communion. Not only do we fast, rise early, kneel down, but we also make acts of faith, hope, confidence, desire, humility, and perhaps acts of perfect love for God. Now each of these acts of penance and of prayer, by reason of our good subjective dispositions which accompany them, has the power to take away some temporal punishment. Moreover, since we are the ones who do the penance and say the prayers, we have the right to have our otot~ temporal punishment lessened by them. What happens, then, when we offer Communion for another? We transfer this incalculable benefit to the other party and, if he is in the state of grace, he receives it. The same is to be said of'the~ prayers we say at the moment when we receive our divine Lord and during the time that He remains pres-ent within us. We communicate the satisfactory value of all these prayers to the other person. Instead of shortening our own purga-tory we shorten the purgatory of another. We', so to speak, suffer vicariously and gratuitously for some one who has no real claim to our sacrifice. If we reflect for a moment, we shall also understand why the satisfactory efficacy of these virtuous acts preceding, accompanying, and following Holy Communion exceeds that produced by the same acts elicited at some other time. We suppose, of course, that our fer-vor (and by that we refer not to our feelings, but to our acts of will) would be equal in both instances. We shall also understand why Communion remits more temporal punishment than other prayers listed in a spiritual bouquet--for example, rosaries or visits to the chapel. We take for granted, of course, that our cooperation would be equally diligent and that the same number of acts of virtue would be made. Otherwise it could easily happen that a rosary re-cited devoutly and animated by many acts of virtue would remit more temporal punishment than a Communion prepared ~or and received listlessly and negligently. Buy other thin~s being on a par, there is an objective reason why Holy Communion should take away more temporal punishment than the rosary or other pious works. The truth of this statement rests .on the fact that ordinarily the acts of virtue we make in connection with Communion are more fer-vent (here again we do not refer to feelings of fervor) and more numerous than those evoked by other works of piety. This is pa.r-ticularly tru~ of the prayers we say during our thanksgiving' after Communion. And it should be noted that temporal punishment is 263 CLARENCE MCAULIFFE Review for Religious canceled in proportion to the fervor and number of our.tSrayers. But why should our prayers after Communion be more fervent? Because Christ is then physically present within us. As a result of His sacramental presence, both the number and the quality of the actual grac'es showered upon us are ~uperi6r to those which necessarily accompany every pious supernatural work. After Communion our Savior inserts a continuous stream of vivifying actual graces into our minds and hearts, and these graces have as their general object, not to arouse merely confidence or faith or humility, but love itself, the most noble of all the virtues. If we ponder these facts, we shall. readily see. why our prayers after Communion have a singular power to reduce the debt of punishment incurred by somebody else. So much for th~ satisfactory value of Holy Communion. We can be comparatively brief in treating of the sacrament's impetrati've fruit because it rests on the same principles we have been discussing. By offering Communion for others, v~e also mean that we trans-mit to them the petitional power of both our preparation and thanksgiving. The very same acts of virtue have not only a satis-factory, but also a pleading or intercessory value. They implore God to brant spiritual and temporal f~vors. Here again, since we are the ones who do the praying, we are the one~ who have a right to obtain the favors. But we,relinquish this right in fav~)r of other~ when we offer our Communion for them. We forget our own needs; we fore-go some benefits that would surely come to ourselves. ~re sacrifice ourselves for the other party. Of course, we must remind ourselves again that we cannot surrender those benefits that flow spontaneously from the Sacrament, such as the remission of venial sins, the growth in love for God and other people, the new title to everlasting glory and the curbing of unruly impulses. But there are many other spiritual and temporal favors that every person needs. There are .many that we ourselves need, even though we often do.not know precisely what" they are. Yet we forget our-. selves and transfer the intercessory vigor of our Communions to others when we offer Communion for them. It is like writing a let-ter of recommendation f6r som~ one else to obtain a benefit that you yourself need and have a right to; and it is a letter of recommenda-tion that you know is certain to be heeded. It is well to remember also that this impetrative efficacy of~Com-reunion is likewise of exceptional ~luality, just as the satisfactory efficacy, and for the same reason. The number and kind of actual 264 September, I~51 COMMUNION FOR OTHERS graces stirred up in the soul after. Communion exceed those accom-panying other good works. .Consequently if we co-operate with them, our acts of virtue will be correspondingly more fervent so that their pleading value is enhanced. Unfortunately, most of us probably do not pray explicitly "after Communion for the person for whom' we offer the Communion. This is, of course, not necessary since our intention made beforehand suffices to obtain for the otber~the satisfactory and impetrative fruits of the sacramefit. However, if we do remember to pray expressly for the' other person after we have received Communion, we shall un-doubtedly increase the value of our gift for him. It stands to reason that our Savior' listens to our. requests with a more willing ear when He is actually present within us with His Sacred Humanity. We recommend, therefore, the practice of praying explicitly after receiving Communion for the person to whom we relinquish the benefits. We may even ask Our Savior to grant certain spedfic favors, especially spiritual ones, to the other party. In conclusion, then, we cannot give away to anyone else the ¯ principal fruits of our Holy Communions. These we have itemized in the beginnihg. In addition to those listed, we might also add that when an indulgence is granted for the reception of Communion or for some prayer said,before or after receiving the Sacrament, we can-not offer it for another living person. Nevertheless, we do a singular favor foi others .when we offer a Communion for their intention. We sacrifice'for theirbenefit the satisfactory and impetrative fruits which are won by our acts of virtue preceding, accompanying, and follow-ing Holy Communion. MEDICO-MORAL PROBLEMS Medico-Moral Problems, Part III, by Gerald Kelly, S.J., contains complete dis-cussions of euthanasia, therapeutic abortion, organic transplantation,, and adult baptism. Also included are discussions of co-operation in illicit operations, the delivery of a. hydrocephalic infant, and lobotomy for pain relief. The booklet is published by the Catholic Hospital Association of the United States and Canada, 1438 South Grand'Blvd., St. Louis 4, Mo. 50 cents a copy; 12 for $5.25; 50 for $,20;' 100 for $37.50. Parts I and II can be obtained at the same place and at the same prices. 265 uestdons and Answers --20- An unexpected opportunity has arisen to sell a piece o{ communlt~ property {or $100,000, which is much more than we could get for it under normal circumstances. But the property must be transferred.withln ten days, otherwise the offer will be wlfhdrawn. VVhat shall we do about gefflng permission of the Holy See? Fortunately His Excellency, the Apostolic Delegate, now has faculties from the Sacred Congregation of Religious to permit the contracting of loans, sales, and alienations of property belonging to a religious institute, when the sum involved does not exceed a half million gold dollars, provided that the conditions laid down in canons 534 and 1531 be observed. We take this opportunity to inform our readers that the Sacred Congregation of Religious has also granted two other special facul-ties to the Apostolic Delegate: to dispense.religious for the reception of Holy Communion from the obligation of the Eucharistic fast so that they may take something by way of drink or m. edicin~, when their physician considers the keeping of the fast injurious to their health; also to shorten or prolong the postulancy prescribed by the Code of Canon Law (see Bouscaren, Canon Lau2 Digest, Supplement 1943-1948, p. 131, under canon 858). m2 I-- I have heard that permission of the Holy See is required {or th~ aliena-tion of notable relics and images. Is it proper ÷o infer that relics and ¯ venerated images may be bought and sold? Does his include sacred vessels? To .buy and sell is only one form of alienation. Hence it does not follow as a general rule that relics and venerated images may be bought and sold simply because the Holy See at times gives permis-sion to alienate such things. Since three distinct things are included in this question we think it advisable to treat each class separately. Relics. Canon 1289 states very plainly: "It is unlau~[ul (nefas) to sell sacred relics." To do so would be to commit a sin of simony. However, it would not be sinful to charge and pay for the metal case in which the relics are usuhlly inclosed. Canon 1281, § I tells us that "notable relics or precious images, and likewise all relics or images 266 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Which are honored in any church with great devotion on the part of the people, cannot be alier~ted validly nor transferred permanently to another church without the permission of the Holy See." What is me~tnt by notable relics? Paragraph two of canon 1281 gives us a list of notable relics: the body, head, arm, forearm, heart, tongue, hand, leg, or that part of the' body in which the martyr suffered, provided it be "entire and" not too small." Such relics may not be alienated without the permissi6n, of the Holy See. Since it is for-bidden to sell. relics, alienation here must be taken in its other meaning, that is, to give away, to lend, and the like. The permission of" the Holy See would be required also to alienate relics which °are not notable; provided that they are honored in a church with great devotion on the part of the faithful. Small relics in the possession of private persons do not come under canon 1281, but they may never be sold. Precious [maqes. Ecclesiastical goods (church property) are shid to be.precious,when they have a ~pecial value by reason of artistic, historical, or material content (canon 1497, § 2). An image is said to be precious if it was painted by a great artist, or was made of precious materials, and has a notable valu&, that'is, over 1000 gold life (about $335 in our present money). Such images, as well as others which are not precious but which may be called venerable because of the great devotion of the faithful towards them, may not be alienated without the permissiqn of the Holy See. Sacred Vessels. Things are said to be sacred when they are .destined for divine worship by reason of their consecration or con-stitutive blessing. Canon 1305 tells us that "an article of sacred equipment which is blessed or consecrated loses its blessing or conse-cration . . . if it has been put to degrading uses 6r has been exposed for public sale." On the other hand, canon 1539 states that "in the sale or exchange of sacred things no account of the consecration or blessing is to be taken in determining the price." We may say, there-fore, that sacred vessels may be sold privately by one individual to another, or by one moral person to another (a church or community to another church or community) provided no extra charge is made for the blessing or consecration. But sacred things may not be exhibited publicist for sale without losing tbeir blessing or consecra-tion. This applies principally to auction sales and to the placing of a sacred object in the window or in the show case of a store open to the public. 267 QUEST, IONS AND A .NSWERS Reuieu) for'Religious We may conclude by adding that a consecrated chalice and paten do not lose their consecration'by being regilded (canon 1305, § 2). May exfreme unction be admlnls+ered before any major opera÷ion? For the valid reception of extreme unction the subject must be in " danger of death ¯from sickness or old age. If the person who is to, undergo major surgery is already in this condition, he is capable of receiving the sacrament before the operation. It may be that this is ge~nerally the case, but it is not necessarily so. Some operations which may entail a great deal of danger are performed for removing some chronic condition which might not become dangerous, without the operation, for a long time. Such patients cannot be anointed before the operation. In practice, it is not easy to decide whether to anoint a person. before an operation or t6 hwait the outcome of the operation. ¯ There is no universally-established practice; nor could there be: Some patients are clearly not capable of receiving the sacrament before the operation; others are clearly capable; and still others are "borderline cases." Moreover, the pastor or chaplain has not merely to decide whether the patient can be validly anointed l~ut also to judge when the anointing would be most appropriate and beneficial. Our ¢ons+ffufions +el[ us +ha+ "[eff~rs fo +he S~s+ers as well as +hose senf by +hem shall pass +hrough ÷he hands of +he superior who may read +hem," In view of +hls s+a+emen+, may a eAenera[ chap+er eAranf +o 9olden jubilaHans +he prlvllecAe' of seal[n~ +belt leffers before ~ivlng ÷hem ÷o +hl superlor7 "-['he general chapter has no power to change the constitutiofis, unless the constitutions themselves give it that power, which is not likely. On the other hand, since the constitutions' do not oblige the superior 'to read all letters which pass through her hands, the general chapter could recommend that superiors refrain from reading the letters of golden jubilarians, but it could not take away the right to read them which is contained in the constitutions. The general chapter may likewise request that the constitutions be changed in this matter, if that be the wish of the majority. Such a request for a change in the constitutions would be made to the local ordinary in the case of a diocesan congregation, or to the Holy See (Co.ngrega-tion of Religious) in the case of a pontifical institute. 268 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Ret~iew /:or Religious m24-- Is the novice master to be present at the discussion of the general council which follows upon his report on the novices who are preparing for first professlon? Canon 563 reads as follows: "During the course of the year of novitiate, the master of novices, conformably to the constitutions, must present to the .chapter or the higher superior a report con-cerning the conduct of each of the novices." Strictly speaking there-fore, the master of novices makes his report to the chapter (in inde-pendent monasteries! or to the higher superior, but not directly to the gefieral council, unless the constitutions prescribe this. Hence a written report should be given the higher .superior who, in turn, will communicate it to the general council. Many constitutions have an article based on art. 300 of the Norrnae which says that "whenever in the general council the novices or the novitiate is discussed, the mistress should be called, who will make known her mind on the subject under discussion, or submit opportune information." There will be no need (and certainly no obligation) for the master of novices to remain at the council session after he has given the infor-mation prescribed by canon 563. If necessary, h~ can always be called back for further information. ~-25-- Is it permissible for sick Sisters who are not completely bedridden to ¯ receive Holy C~ommunion by the cell of a Sister who is confined perman-ently to her bed. These Sisters can manage to get around although the doctor's orders are that they rest as much as possible. Likewise the sana-torium in which they stay has' an elevator and the chapel is on the first floor. The general rule is that all should receive Holy Communion in the chapel if they can conveniently do so. If the Sisters are so sick that they are obliged to miss Holy Mass, even though they are up and about their rooms or in the corridor, they may receive Holy Com-munion on the floor on which they li~'e. As to the elevator: if the Sisters use .it to go to'another floor for their meals, then they should use it likewise to go to the chapel to receive Holy Commu'nion. In general one may say that if going to the chapel for Holy Com-munion would lengthen the time for the Eucharistic fast, or would put ar~ additional strain upon a sick Sister who is not confined to her 269 NEW MEDITATION BOOKS Review [or Reh'gious bed, she may receive Holy Communion on the floor on which she lives. --26-- Is the practice of saying I000 Hall Marys on the Feast of the Annun-ciation ÷o be considered a superstition? Everything. will depend upon the motive a person has in re-peating the Hail Mary that often on the Feast of the Annunciation. If this is done simply out of love for Our Lady, there is nothing wrong with it, since, it is a laudhble act of devotion. ~If, on the other hand, the practice were based upon a ~purious ,revelation, or a sup-posed efficacy which it does not have of its own nature (that of intercessory prayer), then it might be superstitious. New Medi!:a!:ion Books Like St. Teresa of'Avila, many religious,need a meditation book for many years to help them in their prayer. Four such books, writ-ten as helps for contact with God in prayer, have recently been pub-lished or reprinted. The authors are a German Capuchin, an Ameri-can Jesuit in India, an American Benedictine, and a Hungarian bishop. The books vary in purpose, content, and form. Direct, ~arnest, Practical One of the books is the fourth volume of MEDITATIONS by Father Bernardine Goebel, O.F.M.Cap., translated by Father Berch- 'mans Bittle, O.F.M.Cap. Adapted for the use of the Friars Minor Capuchin, the direct, earnest, and practical reflections will help any follower of the Gospel. The present volume is for the'time from Trinity Sunday to the Twelfth Sunday biter Pentecost. The meditation for Sundays is usually on the Gospel of the.day. Some of the topics developed f6r the course of a week are the Eucharist, the Mass, faith, hope, char!W, and love of .neighbor. Each meditation begins with a brief sum-mary of the meditation followed by a brief introductory paragraph, develbps two points w.ith a consid,eration and*application, and ends with a prayer. (Province of St. Joseph, 1740 Mt. Elliott Ave., Detroit 7, Michigan, 1950. Pp. 264. $2.50.) Prodac~ of Missionarg Zeal From the 'mission.field ~f Ifidia comes MEDITATIONS FOR EVERY 270 " September, 1951 NEW MEDITA'FION BOOKS DAY by Rev. P. J. Sontag; S.J. It has recently been reprinted in an attractive two volume set. The first volume containin~ I87 medi-tations covers the first half of the liturgical year from Advent to Trinity Sunday. The second volume complete~ the year bringing the total number to 369. Most of the meditations are based on the life of Christ. Meditations on the Apostles Creed, the Our Father, the sacraments, on social justice and Catholic Action are included, as ¯ ycell as meditations for the First Fridays, the lit.urgical feasts, feasts of special saints, and over twenty meditations "honoring Mary. Though the meditations'were l~repared specifically for the l~iity, priests, seminarians, and all religious will find them belpful. Each meditation fias two or three (the. additional gives the account from Scripture) preludes and three ¯points which contain ample matter for reflection. For the colloquy, the author modestly hnd wisely con-fines himself to suggesting the person, Our Lord or a saint, to ad-dress. The set belongs to the Science and Culture Series and has a preface by the general editor, Joseph Husslein, S.J. (The Bruce Publishing Company, 400 N. Broadway, Mil,waukee 1, Wisc., 1950. Pp. I, xviii q- 476; II, ix q- 466. $10.00.) Goal ol: Monasticism Volume three completes THE.SCHOOL OF THE L, ORD'S SERVICE by, Rev. Bernard A. Sause, O.S.B. (author of "Bene, dicti~e Spirit-uality," REVIEW, X, 7). The set gives a meditation based on the Rule of St. Benedict for every day of the" year. The present volume for the ninth to the twelfth month contains the text of the Rule of St. Benedict and thirty meditations on ea'cb .of the foll~)wing four subjects: spirit of detachment: good zeal': practices, interpretations. and attitudes that have grown from the Rule: and intimate union with God. There is a bibliography and a composite index for the three volumes. Each meditation contains a carefully developed consideration, an examen for the day, and a practical application. The considerations are enriched by quotations, examples, and commehts ~arnered from Benedictine tradition, The sources are given after each meditation. The author's" development of zeal is especially noteworthy. He pre-sents the virtue of zeal in a concrete, appealing'manner by singling out for each day of the month a Benedictine monk, nun, or lay Brother who exemplified some aspect of zeal in his or her life. Not all of the exam, plats are canonized saints. The book deserves and 2'71 NEW MEDITATION BOOKS rewards a careful, prayerful reading. (St. Meinrad, Indiana: The. Grail, 1951.' Vol. iII, Pp. vi q- 575. $4.00.) Devotion and Inspiration Rt. Rev. Ottokar Proh~szka, bishop of Sz~kefeh~rvfir, who died on March 28, 1927, was an outstanding and saintly prelate and a gifted, prolific writer. His MEDITATIONS ON THE GOSPELS are brief, s.wift-moving reflections on the entire life of Our Lord. He presents a text from the New Testament, gives a few short reflections, and leaves preludes, affections, and colioquies to the exercitant. The meditations should be a source of devotion and inspiration to many. The author w!;ites in the introduction to his work: '"I am come that they may have life, and may have it more abundantly.' I wish to serve this purpose of Jesus at His Incarnation, and to that end I am sending this book out into the world. It is intended to assist in the development of the life of Cbrist within our souls . Christ is God Himself in human shape, and I have to adore Him, and delight in His sublime beauty, in the depth and unique quality of His Soul, in the powerful originality of His mind, in the charm which He diffuses and in the life which flows forth from Him. My soul hangs upon His lips and hearkens to His every word. I see God reflected in Him as in a mirror; I bow my head upon His bands and surrender my heart to Him. He is God's Instrument; He will form me and harmonize thd conflicting elements within me." The present Newman edition bad three volumes fin one. The authorized translation from the Hungarian is by Margaret de Pill. Father C. C. Martindale, S.J., has written the foreword. (Wes.t-minster, Maryland: The Newman Press, 1951. Pp.: I, xiv + 229; II, ix + 322; III, viii + 282. $5.50.) SPIRITUAL BOOK ASSOCIATES (381 Fourth Ave., New York 16, N.Y.) September Selection--R. Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P. Our Saviour and His Love for Us. $6.00. October Selection--Henri Petitot, O.P. The True Story of Saint Bernadette. (Cf. REVIEW, May '51, p. 161). $3.50. 272 ¯ 8ook Reviews THE HISTORY OF THE POPES. By Ludwlcj yon Pastor. Translated by E. F. Peeler. Vol. 36: Benedict XIV (1740-1758). Pp. 513; Vol. 37: Clement XIII (1758-1769). Pp. 4S8. B. Herder Book Co., St. Louis, Missouri. $5.00 per volume. This REVIEW (September, 1950) carried a notice of Volume 35 of the English Pastor, showing Pope Benedict XIV in the opening years of his pontificate working "with a pistol at his head," 'a weapon held by Catholic sovereigns demanding that he let them run the Church as well. ' It was particularly in m'eeting their concerted attack on the Society of ,lesus that Benedict XIV fought for his papal powers. Now Volume 36, the latter part of Benedict's pontificate, and 37, that of Clement XIII, come t6 hand, and their entire content is predominantly devoted to later phases of this titanic contest. Even so they bring the st.ory only to the end of the second last Act, and tfien break off while the~ translator works on the ddr~otternent. Will the Society, in the end, be suppressed? Will this regiment, of twenty-two thousand religious, in some forty provi,ces, 600 col-leges and over 1400 churches, be sacrificed? Read the next volume to foll~w shortly. To religious of both sexes, and members of whatever type of canonical organization, this story cannot but have deep and abiding interest. That it chanced to be the Ignatian Society against which the storm broke was because it was the "Swiss Guard" of the day, and the ruler of the Swiss Guard can expend his troops in battle, or order them back to the barracks to disband. Despite the faults and human weaknesses of the papacy's de-fenders, the story leaves them with the honorable distinction of. "canonical" death in the line of duty. Certain European monarchs were persuaded that the papacy had to be cut down to reasonable size. As the Minister Tanucci put it (37, 13) : "Certainly the primacy of the Pope was incontestable; he was the supreme head and centre of the Church; he had the right to summon a General Council, and he was infallible, but only when 15e made decisions in conjunction with the Bishops. But the Papacy in the form it had assumed in his day would have to. be abolished." 273 BOOK REVIEWS "The only way to treat the Pope was to . . . kiss his feet and bind his hands'~ .(28). So, under forms of exquisite politeness and courtly'deference, a violent strtiggle was waging. If the current tyranny of atheisti~ Commu, nism were being carried, on under the appearance of Catholic Leadership, if Marshal Stalin had his official minister at the Vatican to shape Catholic policy,.we could all the easier understand the high and mighty language of "unavoidable administrative necessity" that permeates these endless pages of eighteenth century despotism: It was proved with mathematical precision again and again that the mon-archs were but acting for the Church's good in withstanding the Pope, etc. Have we not heard these tunes being aired in our own day? Will it. be different in the twenty-second century, or the twenty-fifth? Details are all irrelevant; the contest wages still: evil has not prevailed, but it availeth much--GERALD ELLARD, S.J. THE LOVE OF GOD AND THE GROSS OF JESUS. By ÷he Rev. Regl-nald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P. Transl~÷ed by Sisfer Je~n~e Marle, O.P. Volume Two. Pp. vi q- 461. B. Herder Book C;o., Sf. Louis, 1951. $~.00. This volume carries forward and completes Father Garrigou- Lag~ange's studies on divine love and the perplexing trials that are apt to befall souls fairly far advanced in the way of that love. Briefly this is the content of it. Part one deals with "crosses of the senses." These ar4 understood to be just what St. 3ohn of the Cross describes as "the night of sense," and hence here we ,have Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange's interpretation of that portion of St. 3ohn's doctrine. Correspondingly the second part is taken up with St. dohn's !'night of the spirit." Both sections, therefore, are concerned with what one might term the dark, distressing, disconsolate, phase of the mystical life. Part three is headed, "The Life of Union through desus and Mary." Among the themes considered are the inhabita-tion of the Blessed Trinity, the unity and sublimity of the apostolic life, the priesthood of Christ, His kingship, the Blessed Virgin Mary as a model of reparation, and St. 3oseph as a model of the hidden life and first among the saints. As parts one and two would com-fort'and strengthen one who is suffering, the rigors of the night of the soul, so this third part has much that is positively very magnificent and inspiring. The Three Ages of the Interior Life is expressly offere~l to the 274 September, 1951 BOOK REVIEWS public by Ft. Garrigou-Lagrange as a synthesis of this work and Christian Perfection and Contemplation (vol. I, v). Hence it shares in the merits and demerits of that larger and later work. These were discussed at length pro and con'in this REVIEW previously (Novem-ber, 19'49, pp. 297-317; March, 1950, 78-95). ' Since The Love of God and the Cross of Jesus was subsequently incprporated in The Three Ages and presented there in the form which the author now prefers, it seems rather surprising that it should be translated and published at this time. Except for scholars who wisl~ to see both studies, one who wants Fr. Garrigou- Lagrange's ideas on these matters should preferably seek them in the later and more definitiire work--AUGUSTINE G. ELLARD, S.J. THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY GHOST~ By John of St. Thomas. Trenslated fro~ the Latin by Dornin~c Hucjhes, O.P. With e Foreword by Walter Farrell, O.P. Pp. x -f- 293. Sheed end Ward, New York, 19SI. "$3.7S. Now Fr. Hughes has done, and in beautiful form, for English readers what Madame RaissaMaritain did a number of years ago for the French, that is, he has made a translation of the celebrated

Issue 6.1 of the Review for Religious, 1947. ; Review for Religious 3ANUARY 15; 1947 °YouIdre as ony Pe r?a r . ~ . ~The Editors On Difficulties in Meditation . ' . G. Augustine Ellard The Little Office of Our Lady . : . . Adam C. Living in Christ . Charles F. D(~novan "Open My Mouth, O Lord!" . Richard L. Roo~ey Oualifications of Pos÷ula nts Sister of'the Precious Blood Recruiting for the. Brotherhoods . Brother Placidus The Cl~urch Unity Octave .~ . . Father Bartholomew Communications Book Reviews Ouesfion~s Answered Decisions of the Holy See "VOLUME VI NUMBER 1 REVIEW FOR . RELIG, IOUS VOLUME VI JANUARY, 11947 NUMBER , cONTENTS YOUR IDEAS ON PRAYER~-~The Editor~ . . . ON DIFFICULTIES IN MEDITATION" G. Augustine Ellard, S.J; COMMUNICATIONS . 16 OUR CONTRIBUTORS '~ . . : . : . . 1 THE LITTLE OFFICE oF OUR LADY--Adam C. °Ellis, S.J, 18 DECISIONS OF THE HOLY SEE . 24 LIVING IN CHRIST'--Charles F. Donovan, S.J . 28 CONCERNING COMMUNICATIONS ON PRAYER . 32 "OPEN MY MOUTH, O LORD !"--Richard L. Rooney, S.J . 33 BOOKS~,FOR HOSPITALS . . . ¯ . 36 QUALIFICATIONS OF A GOOD POSTULANT-~Sister of Preciotis Blood 37 CHURCH UNITY OCTAVE .INDULGENCES . . RECRUITING FOR THE BROTHERHOODS--Brottier Placidus, C.F.X. 45 THE CHURCH UNITY OCTAVE--Father Bartholomew, S.A. 50 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS-- .1. Absencd from Novitiate during Second Year . 53 2. Reappointment of Local Superiors . 53 3. Pd'wer to Prescribe Community Prayers; Imprimatur . 54 4. Meaning of Spiritual Re.lationship 54 5. Mism Recitata Permitted under Certain Conditions . ~.~ 55 6. Absence from Postulancy . ~ 55 7. Superior Appointed for Unexpired Term . 56 FLOUR FOR ALTAR" BREAD,S . ~ BOOK REVIEWS~ ~ A Bedside Book of.Saints; Extraordinary Life of Marie Louise Brault; ¯ Lumen, Vitae; The Index to American Catholic Pamphlets; The Systematic Teaching of Religion: Ancient, Christian Writers . 58 BOOK NOTICES . . .~ . : . °. 63 REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, January, 1947.~ Vol. VI. No. 1. Published bi-monthly; January, March, May, Ju!~, September, and November at the College Press, 606 Harrison Street, Topeka, Kansas, by St. Mary's College, St. Marys~ Kansas. with ecclesiastical approbation. Entered as second class matter January 15, 1942, at the Post Office, Topeka, Kan.sas, under the act of March 3, 1879. Editorial Board: Adam C. Ellis, S.J., G. Augustine Ellard, S.J., Gerald Kelly, S.J. Editorial Secretary: Alfred F. Schneider,~ S.J. Copyright, 1947, by Adam C. Ellis. Permission is hereby granted for quotations of reasonable length, provided due credit be given this review and the author. Subscription p~ice: 2 dollars a year. Printed in U. S, A. Before writing to us, please consult notice on Inside beck cover. Review ~or Reli gio'us Volume VI ~January--December, 1947 Published at THE COLLEGE PRESS Topeka, Kensas Edited by THE JESUI~T FATHERS SAI¯NT MARY'S COLLEGE St. Man/s, Kansas " REV~IEW FOR RELIGIOUS is indexed in the CATHOLIC PERIbDICAL iNDEX. Yobr. J Jeas on Pray6r? The Editors. VARIO S TIMES in the p~st, the editors of thi.~" EVIEW. have suggested some definite topic to be dis-cussed in the Communications Department with th~ intention of pooling useful ideas and informatioh." For example, we have had communications on spirithal direc-tion, on formalism in religion, .and On vocations. Of all _the discussions, by far. the most interesting and profitable was the one concerning spiritual direction. This discussiofi" "'o ran through an entire year; and when it was complete&we Were able to publish a very helpful su.rvey of all the articles and commu,.nications. . Why was~spiritual direction such a frutifui .topic for discussion? The reason seems to be thatTM the topic has a definite persor~al meaning to most religious. They have "id~as and ideals ~r~.the subject; and they. can and'will express themselves. It is all but inevitable that communi- ~ation~'which touch upoh matters that are concrete and that are of personal significance-will be successful. We should like to start another series of communica-tignsi" and we think we have a,subject that should vie.with. spiritual direc~iori in its personal appeM to.religious. The Subject we wish to suggest is Pra~jer. Here'is our plan. During the present year, beginnin~ with this issue, we hope to publish a number of. articles prayer. In these, attention will be drawn to many of the "difficulties.ordinarily met with in prayer and. an attempt will be made to indicate ways and means of overcoming them, Thui we hope to give our real:ldrs,suggestio,ns, that will be of ,great constructive value. Yet our purpose can 3 THE EDITORS '~" - ha, rdly b.e.attained ~erely by, formal articles. We need the informal, perso~ial t6uch of communications. Prayer is somethin.g,that pertains intimately to the life of a religious. E~ry religiouS, we su~,pose, has at least tried mental prayer, and has met with success or failure. We think that all reli- '~gi~,us Ould gain mu~h by an interchange of Views on these failures and succeSSeS. Hence, we ask fo~ communicatiohs to supplement or if need be--tocorrect our articles. What should be included in these communications? It .is hard to give a Comprehensive answer to thi~iq~estion. Here.are ~ome suggestions~: You have read or heard some-thing '~about prayer;~ you have .tried it and founfl it either ~.helpful or useless. You have .experienced di~culfies-~-or discovered methods and h~lps that the ordiffary books do notmention.~ Others would like to hear about ~uch things. Why not tell them? These are but priming suggestions;. they are not intended tolimit'th~ ~scope of your communi-c_ a~ions. The importfint thin~'is_that you tell about pr~yer,. ~/our ideas concerning, prayer, and so forth. It seems that the s.ubject should be limited, for the most partl to mental prayer;, however, we certainly do not wisl"i to exclude correspondence on vocal pi:ayer. , Who should write these communications? Anyone Who i~ intdrested;, anyone who .has somethinl~ to say. Whethei ~rofi aie'a superior ora Sub~ject; a sPkrituai ~direc~orI h~ retreat master,-a priest, a Sister, ,a Brother; whether your irocatidn stresses the acti~ce or the contern-plh~ive-iife you :can hace~something worth while tO say on this important subject. If we can cbmbine our articles and communica'- tions in such a way as to give us 'a practical- suivey of.all the' real difficulties and real helps to prayer, we shall have accomplished something truly worth while. [ NOTE: Please see. p, 3 2 for directions concerning cdramunications.] On Difl:icul ies G. Augustine Ella~rd, S.J. |~ ET US .take meditation~ to be a heart2to-h~ar~t confer- I~ ence with God upon one's spiritual problems. .Th~ -intellectual moment is expressed by "conference,'~ in ~he sense of consultation or discussion; the affective moment by "heart-to-heart"; and-the element of prayey. 'is. implied' in the words "v~ith Gsd." Moreover let us take the term meditation both in the narrower acceptation of discursive mental prayer and in the broai:ter use as men.t~l prayer. general, except of.course infused contemplation. The diffi') culties are encountered primarily in meditation in the former sense, but in diminishingdegrees, they occur also in those forms.of mental prayer that are commonly called affective or contemplative. The purpose of these remarks is purely practical. And it would seem that not many-efforts in the spiritual life ~ould be more practical than endeavoring to make medita-tlon le~s sterile and more effective. A. TheFacts I cannot imagine that anybody who has tried over a ldng period of time to pray mentally would ~leny that there are difficulties imit. Even'St. Teresa, that, soaring eagle of " Avila, who must have found about as much facility and delight in it .as anyone, at a certain stage in thedevelop-ment 6f her prayer-life used to shake the hourglass because it was too slow to her tas,te in measuring the hour for medi-tation. Yet there are ascetical writers, carried away appar-ently by zeal and forgetful of experience, who assert that "mental. prayer is not difIiculU' As a.matter of fact, it seems quite certain that the diffi-culty bf meditation ranges" all the way from sheer impbssi- ,G. AUGUSTINE ELLARD "" Review for Religious bilit_-y, to,no.difficulty at all. There ar_.e.some people'who are ~h~si~aii~ and }imply'i~capabi~ Of itl .and tl~ere are others "~ho diari.ng .long periods of time find only e?ase and delight in it. These represent the two extremes. If we consider the generality of per~gn~who apply thedas~lves 'to addita-ti0n, m~impression-is that th~ difficulty is both c6mmon and gre~t. In any case, whate;cer the f~cts be, let us acknowledge them candidly 'without exa'~g~ration or diminfition: "~ ° Ess_e_ntially the difficulty Of meditation seems'to consist in a cert~iin darkness of mind and'a certain apathy of soul. It kvill be noticed that. these two conditions are precisidy the" contrary Of w.hat constitutes actual grace, namely} illumina-tion of the intelligence and movement or irispiration Of the will. "A~ all~ven(s when one finds 'medit~ition hard, it seems scarcely possiblTto go on in it; or at least it seems that to proceed would be laborious and painful." ~ B. Causes o~ th~oD~gi~ultg. ~I. P~ray~r~ in general is difficult to human natureqn v,~ri-ous degrees ~because of its supern, atural c~aracter; ~because the senses find little therein to occupy themselves, w~tla: because, if it ~s a conversation~with God, it is really .rathel a mont~logtie'thafi a dmlo~ue; ~because oftetitirfie~ itdbes not fit-,qn comf0r[ably~'With one's moral habits;, and finally~ because it tends to become too monotonous and staid': '~ The difficulties of.mental prayer'm6re particularly~ma'~r be external or ,internal; and, if external, they' may be eitl'i~r inevitable 6r~avoidable.~', Where~ meditation must bemade in com.mon; s~m~ persons may unavoidably or not' annoy and disturb others.Perhaps there are. distractihg noises from "the neighborhoo~t that one cannot get .away fr0rfi. ¯ Examples of trouble from within an~ of a physical natU're would be ill health, fatigue, and that old besetting weak-ness, ~som~ol~nce, ~. "~ ,Januar~t, 1947 ON DIFFICULTIES II~°MEDITATION Psychological difficulties may be hardly r~mediable or fairly remediable: Some people are. congenitally and intel~: lectually incapable ofo meditatiom except perhaps on ~pec'ial occasions, just as some y&~ng people cannot assimilate a higher educati6n. There is no use in dodging this fi~ct. Such people must seek their sanctificati6n by other means. Other persons are~more or less unfit because of an imagination thht~is either° too torpid, or too flighty. The temperament of some is too nervous a~d unstable. A high-degree of extraversion, that ~is, the tendency to be preoccupied with external interests, is a distinct impediment to mental prayer. Deficiencies that are more ~asily remedied are the fol-lowing. One may be too ignorant of God and divine trutlfs; of the doctrine of prayer itself, and of its importance. Then there is the old 4~aunting specter of distractions, voluntary or in~coluntary. _-Distractions coming from one's duties or~ work are a special probl.em all by themselves. There is a whole series of difficulties stemming fiom moral origins: general negligence or tepidity in the spiritual life, some particular faulty hab'it, neglect of recollection, half-hearted applicationto mental prayer, carelessness in-preparing for it, .resistance to grace'calling in times of prayer for some specific sacrifice,- and finally the discouragement due to repeated past failures in cultivating meditation. The' author of a redent work entitled Di~cuttfe.s ot: Mental Prager, (Boylan) fihds the moral difficulty to be the greatest of all (p. 41). II. If we mak~ the rather obvious comparison ofmedi-tation with the recitation of the Divine Office (each is nor-maliy about an hour of prayer), in meditation we n0ti~e that what is to be done is-not so definite, there is less activity for the sens_es, ~and the sanction for acting is far less.com-pelling. In the Office there is less liberty to do this or that, there is more-monotony and repetition,- and oftentime's \ 7 G. AUGUSTINE ELLARD ~ Reviet~, ~or Religious there is less harmony between wl~at One says and what one~/ feels. " " _This suggests another comparison. We observe that in reading some things .we must plougl5 ahead laboriously and toilsomely and only under pressure of some necessity ~or gther.' Contrarily some books are so interesting that they may tempt us not to put them aside even to the neglect of our duties. Again a little knowledge of haman nature reveals that it is easy and pleasant for, say, 3~oung men to carry on long conversations or even reveries by themselves on athletics, for businessmen to discuss or think about ventures that promise money-profits, and for arl~ists and Sscientists to occupy themselves with their chosen specialties. Lastly did anybody ever hear a lover complain that it was tedious and boring to busy himself mentally and.emo-. tionally, even for.protracted periods, with his beloved, and even if she were absent? "For where your treasure is, there will ~rour heart be also" (Luke 12:34). III. From the causes indicated above and from these comparisons, the conclusion seems to be that the~.primary source of difficulty in mental pra.yer is none other'~than tack o1: interest. Interest would not remove all ~ifficulties--a pursuit can be interesting and still be hard--but with it one would be glad to make the'effort. Interest v,;ould, unless this ~analysis_be wrong,~take away the principal and characteristic difficulty in meditati_on-.~ People are not dis-tracted from that in which prevailing interest lies. Nor do they go to ~leep when. they have an opportunity to occupy themselves with it. They can never feel bored with it, .nor complain that it is'dull. ~ ~Another conclusion is that this lack of interest cannot be due to a deficiency of interest-evoking .qualities in the objects dealt with, e.g., God,~ life-eternal, and so fortl~- rather i~ must be attributed to some inadequacy in the sub~, 8 danuar~t, 1947 ON DIFFICULTIES IN .MEDITATION ject~'h{ms~lf, in t,he :person, prayin~ ax:d eyperiencin~g the ennui. He is like a' child who is being introduced to some-thing that in" itself is re;illy:ver~y interesting; but as yet, the child does not realize the fact, and consequentl~ .it easy.to direc~ 0rhold its attention. He may be compared to a man who !s b~eginning to read a b6"ok that:on the: whole is~ ir~deed thrilling ;, and hbsorbing, but not in the first chal~ter, or two: '.Many studies and investigations are not in~ter~sting hntil,one gets fairl~ far into them; thin'they may~ become all-engrossing. So~it~, seems to be with'mental prayer. In the case ih.which a,person's troubles With meditation,are mor:il rather than psychological there is a doubledeficiency ~f.interest: t6o little appreciation of the. values of'the good life, and too little ,insight into %hat meditation should mean to him. . C. WhatIs to Bb Done? ~ I. Clearly the. fi~st thing to do is to remove the obstacles that can be got rid 'of. A change of place could in some cases put'an end:?o many disturbing circumstances. If one's external posture is~ not quite reverent, and one is not lazy,; that at least can be remedied with comparative facil-ity. Much of. the trouble i!hat: m~ny people h~ve with meditation could and should be handled by takihg another ~and better time "for.it. I'refer to the early morning ~ind sleepiness. Phy°sically and psychologically meditation is a more difficult form of work than, say, an hohr of study, Therefore one ought to be physically fit for it.~ /ks a ma't~- ter of fact in the quiet and dhrk hours of early morning many are not. If the hour for praye.r cannot be changed. possibly the time _for retiring could .be advanced. Certain bodi!y ppsitions, for example, kneeling, star~ding, or walking, espedally in the fresh air, are less conducive to somnolence and more helpful to 9ttention and devotion.¯ It would-be infinitely better merel~r to read than to sleep away G. AUGUSTINE ELLARD the ~ime of prayer. "Writing too can be an aid. At all events there is. no use in torturing oneself and racking one:s n.e.rves and getting into a condition in which, " although awake indeed, one is unfit for any~_serious mental effort. II. Now let,us see what we can do positively, espe-cially with regard to building up interest. Since the objects with which we occupy ourselves inmeditation are in them-selves~ interdsting, in" fact incomparably more apt to capri- 0 vate attention than the trivial-things that come. into compe-- tition with them and distract us away from them, to becomd interested we need to kno~¢ them better and underthe appropriate°aspects. Admittedly- this is no.t easy. Since those objects are spiritual or supernatural and since all our knowledge comes through the senses orat least must follow the. analogy df sensible things, to know and evaluate super-sensible things well and adequately may require much effort and exertion. In proportion as the-realities anal values, that we hav~ to deal with are high above the mate-rial level, to reach that height and main'tain our heavy and earth-bound selves there we may need powerful and con-tinuous operation on the part.of our two spiritual motors, namely, the intellect and the will. 1. We may need more knowledge about God, the Bles-sddTrinity, the Word Incarnate, and indeed about all the ! sacred truths; at least wd may be deficient in the right kind" of. knowledge of them, that.is,~ that which is realistic, thor-bughly assimilated, personal, and effective. Certainly we need to find these doctrines interesting. This is true in gen-eral and for everybddy, but especially for one who would" be something of a contempl.ative.- The great majority, of people can hardly hope to discover.many new truths' for themselvds; the most that t~hey, can. expect to accomplish, is to review and reclarify this knowledge by .furthe.r residing, ¯ listening, or reflection. It is now a lawof, the Church that i0 Januar~o l P4 7 .ON'D.IFI~kCULTIES-IN MEDITATION' the-following, wOrds of Pope Pius XI should be read to young religious clerics at the beginning of each year: For since the sole or at least the chief function of those who have consedrated themselves ~to God is prayer, and the contemplation or meditation of divine things, how will they perform that most sacred _ duty Unless they be thoroughly and intimately versed in the doctrine of faith? " W~ wish,first of all, to call this to the attenti6n of those who lead a retired life in the contemplation of heavenly things; for " they err if ~hey i_magine that after havii~g either ~eglected_in the beginning or'later" abandoned their theological studies, they will be able without that abundant knowledge of God and of the mysteries of faith which is drav~n'from sacred studies, to go along easily in the. higher spiritual life and .to be lifted up to intimate union with God. As regards others whether they be engaged in" teaching ~. or in dail~ o in'tercourse with people, will" not that varied ac~vity'in the sa~red ministry be the stronger and more efficacious, the more brilliant and replete'they ;ire with the fulness of learning? (Pius XI. AAS 214.81.) A" particular field of s/acred doctrine that is most,useful for meditation and that'is susceptible of cultivation indef-initely is the life ofChrist. The more one knows about,it, the more realistic will one's knowledge and apprechtion of the God-man be. ~[t is always possible to learn something more and. thus add a bit of freshness and novelty to one's ac.quaintance with it. In this connection it may. be .men-tioned that viewifig suitable pictures of the Holy Land ani:l 'of the life of Christ would contribfite an additional touch of realism to one's imagery and~nowledge of Him. These suggestio~ns ark not to be taken to imply that the kind of kno-,kledge which an archeologist or historian seeks is just .the same as that which makes for a greater love and imita-tion of Christ. Theology may be definedas faith ~seeking "under~- standing, that is, a scientific, theoretical knowledge of revealed truth. Similarly mental prayer may be described as faith seeking understanding, but now an insight that is dynamic, practical, and vital. ._ 11 G. AUGUSTINE ELLARD Review for Religious 2. After learning more about the sacred truths, one should make a special effort to see them as interesting. ¯ At least in three~vcays they are'interesting in themselves: (1) in~ asmuch a~ they~ answer the most fundament~il questions that we can ask; (2) in that they are singularly- fitted to excite the emotions of fear, pity, hope, and love; and (3) they disclose tremendous dangers andopportunities for each one of us personally. 0 The first and most fundamental need of any personas sore( sort of philosoph.y of life; giving a solution to s'~ch problems as what he is, whence he is, why he is, what is the sighificahce of the things about him, and so on. To such queries. Catholic doctrine supplies answers at once simple enough to satisfy average rfiinds and profound and sublime enough tb keep the best minds investigating them indef-initely a~d profitably.They are like rich mines that can ne~er become quite exhausted. Thus Catholic doctriffe gives the best available satisfac.ti6nto our deep instinct for truth and knowle~lge. - . ~ Ingeneral it seems quite correct to say that whatever is fit to excite fear ot hope or love in men'shearts will interest them. The experience of all,"writers, ~peakers, and story- ~elle~s woul~d.seem tocorroborate 'that S'tat~ment~ - .Now there are no facts, or for,.that matter, no creations of fiction either, that ~re,so apt to arouse men'to fear or sti.mulate thereto h6pe' or inflame them tb love as just those doctrines which commonly form thei themefor meditation.: Objec-tively this is so true. that no beiiev'er w6uld hesitate for an instant to"affirm it. But subjectively? There's the rub. These-fact,:are not known so as t6 be excitingly inter-esting. We need to become more keenly and vividly a~are-bf ~11 that these truths mean for fear and hope and love~ Of themselves they are great~,enough to give th~ human heart the most thrilling expefience's,rthat it c~n. possibl~; 12 'danuary,, 1947 ON DIFFICULTIES'IN MEDITA]HON have; but first they must be apprehended clearly eho~gh and under the appropriate as.pegt. , It is natural for ~en to be interested in whatever they perceive'to contain uncommon opportunities or dan~ers for themselves personally. If a.stranger at the other extremity Of the 'block is ill, it may be immaterial to me. But if learn that he has infantile paralysis and may pass the infec-tion on to me, that is a very different matter. Similarly if read that Mr. So and So a t.housand mile,s'away has dis-covered oil on his property, what is tffat to me? If however oil is found or~ the property adjacent to mine, why, it would be folly not to take notice, and promptly too. Now the ~ruths of faith disclgse to us g.reater dangers and oppor-tunities for our own dear selves than any that the~world can-offer. If men were only sufficiently and properly acquainted with them and their tremendous significance for them personally, nothing would be more. natural than to be interested and eagerly alert about the matter. 3. In the case of some religious there "would be less diffi-culty and distress in mental prayer if they hr~eto more" about it. Perhaps they have hardly added to their knowledge of it.since they left the novitiate; possibly_even What they learned then has become dim and vague. But even if they remembered it all, mature religious could scarcely consider themselves well-informed on prayer and well-prepared to cultivate it if they had only a novice's acqu~aintance with the theory and practice of it. This is all" the more'.true inasmuch ~ls for obvious reasons it would be indiscreet for novice masters to give more than introductory instructions on prayer. ]~f more were given, some novices would mis-understand arid mi~app!y it. CFully trained religious should be conversant with the principal points in the theory and practice of meditation° or discursive mental prayer, of affective prayer, and contemplation'._ ,Many would add now 13 G; AUGUSTINE El;LARD ~ Reolew [or Religious that they should" have an experimental as well as a specu÷ lativeknov~ledge of mystical or infiased contemplation;" '- _which, they maintain,, is quite'necessary, for the normal development of the interior life and for the perfection of charity. At the very minimum religious should ~not ti~e ignorant of the fact that if they exercise themselves in medi-tation well and earnestly for a sufficient period of time. ,usually it is to be expected that they will pass on .to higher forms of prayer that are both easier and more fruitful. Orie - shbuld not countupon remaining in the freshman~ class, so to speak, with all its drawbacks, forever.- Greater familiarity with the theory and practice of mental p~ayer should naturally issue in greater interest in it. This interest may be increased~also by striving-to see and.fed,what a difference it makes to be proficient in it: first, the fact that it really does make ~/ difference; second, what kind Of difference; and third, how much difference. The differences are .to a great extent the same a's those between ~he good and the bad life, be, tween devotion to God and relative neglect of Him, between heaven and hell.- Hence al'l"tfie reasons that %e have'to be good, all thev~lues ofGod Himself, all the advantages of His blessed plan. for us, may .be urged as so.many motives for striving to medita.te well. " Our final destination is the beatific vision and love of the Infinite. Is. there,an.y activity possible on the way that is more closely akin to it or a bettdr help" to it than the con-templative:' considerati0n and love of God? If we take the - practical i~roximate aim of our existence here to be keeping the precepts and counsels of God, then in general and nor-mally the most effective means of achieving that purpose , seems to be precisely mental prayer. And that from the very nature of things. Keeping the divine precepts and counsels requites a certain disposition of n~ind and will, a- , .14 dahu~ir~/, 1947 ON'DIFFICULTIES IN MEDITATION certain .vision and inclination that is the_natural result of m~ntal prayer more.than of anything"else. All the active [life of ~any spirit consists in thi~nking andwilling, rand .where there is no thinking and w~illing there is no-spiritual life. Iri mental prayer the human.spirit normally reaches its summit in religious' thought and volition. When b,! means of grace God. leads one t6. do some good or avoid some evil, He enlightens the mind ahd moves the will accordingly. Is there any exercise so closely related to this divine illumination and.inspiration or so,,apt to further the process as meditation or contemplation? Again, our super-natural life and perfectiofi consisl~ in thinking and willing. like God; in mental prayer very especially we do just that. Probably no one would deny that in all our spiritual armory there is no more'telling weapon than the' retreat. Retreats are so effective.partly because under favorable ~ir-cumstances they bring to° bear upon one the whole battery. of s[firitual arums at one and the sam~ time, but partly also ' becfiuse the most essential and fundamental actix~ity involved in'making a_retreat is skrious and practical reflec-tion on eternal tri~ths. It is this that makes those truths seem real enough to stir one's emotions and change One's ways of living. One might object that to feel much interest in the dogrfias of religion and particuJarl~.y in the prayerful consideration of them it is necessary that a person should already have mad~ great progress in meditation., In oiher words, the remedy suggested presupposes that the malady has been cured. The fact is tha.t, there is an ascending spiral of inter-est and progres_s, and that o~ne must break into it where best one caw. At the very minimum a man who has some appreciation of the value 8f mental pr.ayer can begin'; a little p~oficiency will give greater interest, and that in turn COMMUNICATIONS Review for Religious greaterprofictency, and so on indefinitely. - Similarly prayer and good living constantly interact one~,up.onthe other in a sort oF virtuous spiral. In a subsequent ,paper it is hoped to propose certain, other aids to combating the difficulties of meditation. Reverend Fathers: In compliance with the request in ~the November j.ssue of REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS that readers send in information in regard to the interruption of the choral recitation of the Divine Office, I am sub-mitting the following~ data: About twenty years ago we ~ent a similar question to our Gen-eralate in Rome: "Is there any regulation that .the Divine Office mfist be interrupted when, during its recitation, the tabernacle is.opened and Holy oC.o m m u n i 6 n i s b r o u g h t t osi tchKe . The answer we received was: "No, the Divine Office should be continued standing." From L.iturgical Law by Rev. P. Chas. Augustine, O.S.B., D.D:, B. Herder Book Co., p. 149, I quote the following: ". each canonical Hbur (public recitation.) should be recited without inter-ruption." Since the Divine Office~s a "public prayer" (Augustine, p. 101) and "is recited in the'name of the Church" (A~ugustine, p. 17-3). is it not "in accord with respect for our. Sacramental Lord, who is passing by," to continue its recitation instead of stopping "and thus allow 'all the individual members to greet Him as each one's devotion may suggest" ? One other passage from the Dominican Ceremonial, I would like t to quote: "Non fiat pulsatio Campanulae in alia parte Missae, neque alibi, nisi notetur. Item non est pulsdnda ad Missas privatas celebratas e conspectu Chori, tempore O~cii aut Missae. Conventualis." (S.R.C. 5. Martii 1767. 1,4. Mail 1856.) 16 January, 1947 COMMUNICATIONS From the above does it not follow that private Masses,~maY be celebrated and Holy C~mmunion be distributed during the recitation of the Divine Office? Dominican ,Sister. Reverend Fathers: Three times, weekly our chaplain carries Holy Communion to the sick while the choir is chanting the Little Hours before Mass." "Apart . from the fact that it is very difficult to hav.'e a-choir stop and start .duling a Psalm or other prayer without considerable disturbance find ~ annoyance, I fail to see why one's private devotions are considered superior to or should take precedence over the liturgical prayers of the Church. I have noticed that frequently when Our Sacramental Lord is pa.ssing through our choir, we are chanting the Gloria Patri or similar words of praise. What could be more fitting than such a greeting? If we are chanting our Office in union with that divine intention with which Christ praised God on earth as set forth in tl~e Aperi Domine, why should we substitute our owri private devotions, however sub-lime, for these prayers of the Church when Christ Himself enters our midst? This would seem to'imply that our minds and hearts are not, and should not be, so closely united to God in liturgical prayer as in private devotions, Ghich would be a lowering 6f ideals arid an unnecessary concession to-human weakness. We have better order and much less disturbance by simply kneding during the time the priest is preparing and carrying the -Blessed Sacrament through the chapel while the chdir continues without interruption. ,And we take it for granted that ,the minds and hearts of the choir members are United to their Sacramental Lord whether He is hidden in the tabernacle or passing through their midst, and that they are adoring Him "in spirit and in truth." A Superior. ouR CONTRIBUTORS ~ FATHER BARTHOLOMEW is director of the Church Unity Octave. BROTHER PLACIDUS is vocation director for the American Province of the Xaverian Brothers. CHARLES F. DONOVAN is studying education at Yale University. RICHARD L. ROONEY is on the staff of The Queen's Wor/~. G. AUGUSTINE ELLARD and ADAM C. ELLIS are members of our editorial board. 17 The Li!:t:Je Off:ice ot: Our Lady Adam C: Ellis, S.3. .C~T. BENEDICT, the founder of the religious life in iiae -~, West, ,perfected the Divine Office by instituting Prime and Compline as the morning and night piayers of his monks. In the early centuries after Benedict, when most of the monks-were still engaged to a great extent in manual labor, the Divifie Office remained rather fixed. Each mon-astery, as well as eac~h cathedral chapter, had its own cus-. toms regarding details, but the substantial elements re-mained the same for all. In the course of time "more of the monks took up the , study of l~tters and gradually confined themsel~es to the recitation of the Divine Office and to study, thus giving rise to the distinction between choir monks and ttie conversi or lay Brothers, who continued to carry on, the manual labors nec,essa,ry for the sustenance of the monastery. In the various ref6"rms which took place in monastic circles from the ninth to the thirteenth centuries nufnerous devo-tional practices were gradually added to the recitation of the Divine Office, since the choir monks now had more leisure for such devotions. Thus, in the 'course of time the, fifteen gradual psalms, the seven penitentiil psalms together with " the Litany, the Office of the Dead, an Office of All Saints/ (Vespers and Lauds only, late~: shortened to our present commemoration of All Saints), and finally the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin, c~ime to be recited-in conjunction _with the Divine Office, which was then called the Great ONce to distinguish it from these minor additions. From the monks these devotional additions passed to th'e cathe- THE LITTLE OFFICE O~ OUR LAD~ dral chapters arid t~the diocesan clergy.1 ° While there W~is a certain degree of general conformity in, the West by the end of the thirteenth century, there also existed an infinite variety of minute and indifferent details i~ these liturgical prayers. The Council of Trent felt the ~need of curtailing these devotional additions tothe I~ivine Office and" of introducing uniformity "regarding details. Hence' it requested the Pope to ,work out such a, reform, materials for which had already been collected by Pope Paul IV. Thelreform was completed l~y,Pope St. Pius V, who in 1568 by the bull Quod-a Nobis published the "reformed ~Ro~nan Breviary for the Western Church, making it obliga-tory on all religious orders, monasteries, dioceses, and churches which did not possess a l~iturgy, of their own extending back over two hundred years. In this reform the Pope released both religious and diocesan clergy from the" obligation of reciting any of the devotional additions men-tioned above, but he highly recommended them as forms of private devotion for all, and enriched their recital with indulgences. Hence they are still printed iia the Roman Breviary as appendi~es to the Divine Off=ice. The Little ONce of the BleSsed Virgin appeared' fi~rst as a private devotio~ in certain Benedictine monasteries. "ir~ Italy, Peter the Deacon, the chronicler of Monte Cassino, informs us that its recitation in that monastery w, as a cus-tom of long standing begun by. ~:eason of a command of Pope Zachar'y (died 75~2). However-that may be, the cusr tom had ~ertainly been in vogue at Monte Cassino for a very long time when Petdr wrote his chrbnicle~ in the early ye~ars of the twelfth kentury, 'and by that time it had pi~ssed to other Benedictine monasteries of Italy. The use of the XThose who.,_are interested in ~earning more about this developme_nt of devotional" additions to.the Divine Office will find a detailed accent of it in Bishop: Liturt~ica ttistorica, chapter ix, pp. 21 I- 2 3 7. 19 ADAM C. ELLIS Revieu~ for Religious Little Office of the Blessed Virgin~ was customary ~in the monasteries of England b~fore the coming of the Norman conquerors in 1066. Records from the tenth= and eleventh centuries in France and Germany sh6w that i~ was~in use in individual monasteries and cathedral churches such as "Augsburg, V~erdun, and Einsiedeln. Cluny introduced but restricted its recitation to the monks in the infirmary~ since the ~nfirmary chapel was dedicated to-the Blessed Vir-gin. Finally it was through the Black Canons (of St. Au-_ gustine) that the Littl~ Offifice passed into common use among the diocesan clergy. By the end of the thirteenth cent.ury it was recited both by religious and by cathedral and other chapters of canons throughout Western Europe. After the reform of Plus V some of the older orders retained the Little Office as an addition to the Divine Office~ . to.be recited on certain days, or in some cases as the official ot~ice'of their lay Brothers. S(. Francis de Sales prescribed°° ,it for his Order of the Visitation in place of the Greater Off~e.and stated that "the Office of Our Lady is the soul of "- devotion in convents of the Visitation." Many of the new congreqations of religious "founded during the nineteenth century have adopted ~he Little Office and recite it daily in w~hole'or in part (Vespers and Compline) or at least.on Sundays and holydays. Others who are prevented by the nature of their,work from assembling together at a fixed hour, have.to content themselves with a private recitation as time_permits~ keeping choir with their guardian angels.- TileLittle Office of the Blessed Virgin was long a favor-ite de~;otion of pious.layfolk, especially in England, where '- there were two versions of "Mary's Hours". current as far back as thee eleventh century. In a report ,to his govern-.~ ment about 1496 the Venetian Ambassador to England related of the Catholics of that day,: "Th_~y all attend Mass. every day and say many toaternoster.s in public the women 20 ,lanuaGI, 1947 ~- THE LI ,TTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY carrying long rosaries in their hands, and any that can read taking the Office of. Our Lady with them, _and with some corhpanion reciting it in the church Verse by verse after the manner of dhurchmen." Nowadays many of the laity use the Little Office as their. dail.y prayer. It is part of the rule for Dominican, Carme-lite, and Augustinian Tertiaries, and Franciscan ~Tertiaries are exhorted although not obliged to say it. '- , Obligation [of Religious, Cdngregatiobs T.he obligation of reciting the Little Office. of the Blessed Virgin in ~rel.igious con, gregations arises entirely from the constitutions. Generally speaking the obligation falls upon the communit__y as a whole, so that the superior has the responsibility'to" see thilt the Little Office is recited as prescribed by the constitutions.-- This obligation; however, does not bind under sin, as was expressly stated in the Norrnae of 1901, article 156. What is the obligation of th~ individual religious with regard to the Little Office? Generally speaking, there is no obligation for the individual religious, since, as was sfgted above, the obligation rests on the.community as a whole, Hence an. individual'religious who has been excused from' attending the common recitation of the Little Office has no obligation to recite it privately unless the Constitutions expressly require this. ~ ~Reciting the Little ONce in the Vernacular "" Must the Little Office of th_e Blessed Virgin be said in .I2afin~ or may it be recited in the vernacular? We are dis, cussing here merely the law of the Church, leavin~ the° question of indulgences aside for the moment. Unless the-constitutions prescribe that the Little Office must be said in Latin, it ,may be recited in. the vernacular, that. is, in am" language, provided the translation used has the approval bf 21 ADAM C. ELLIS ' --' R¢Oie~o for Reffgious " ~a local ordinary. This opinion .of reliable post,Code authors is based fipon several answers of t~e~ Sacred Con-gregation of Rites (Decrees 3221, 3897, and 3945). - Even though the constitutions require that the I~ittle Office must be, recited by the community in Latin, the indi., vidual religious who have been absent from choir, and who are obliged by the constitutions to recite priyately the parts of the office which they missed, may recite those parts in the vernacula~ unless the constitutions expressly state that even in such a private recitation the Latin lan.guage must be used. ,Indulgences We hav, e seen above that Pope St. Plus V had already 'granted indulgences for the recitation of the Little' Office on the occasion of his reform of the Roman Breviary. Pope Leo XIII revised and increased these indulgences. The official manual 6f indulgences, Preces et Pia Opera, published by t~he Holy See in 1938, gives the following under N. 289: ~ "To the faithful who have devoutly recited the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary, even~ though_they are ob!iged to do so, are granted: "An indulgence of 500 days for each hour of the same Office; an indulgenc~ of ten yea,rs for the "entire Office; a plenary indulgence¯ under the usual c~nditions, provided they" have recited the entire Office daily for a full month." When Pope Leo XlII revised and increa~sed the indul-gence~ granted for. the recitation of the Little Office, in 188 7; :the Sacred ~ Congregation of Indulgences was asked whether these indulgences could be gained by the recitatiori of the Little Office in thel vernacular, or whether the Latin form had to be used. On September 13, 1888,~the Sacred Con-gregation replied that the. Little Office must be recited in Latin in order, to°g~iin the indulgences. .~his rigorous reply was~ mitigated bya later:decree of August 28, 1.903~ :22 January, 1947 ~. THE LITTLE OFFICE OF OUR LADY approved on the same day by Pope Plus X, which allowed the indulgences-to be gained for the private recitation.of the. Little Office in the ~ernacular, provided the.translation used had be~n.checked and approved by a local ordinary in' whose territory that language is current. In a later answer given to Cardinal Mercier on December 18, 1906, the same Sacred Congregation replied by explaining that the recita-tion of the Little Office was still t6 be considered private even tho~ugh it was said in common within the religious house, or even in the church or public oratory attached to the religious house, provided that the faithful are not allowed in the church or public oratory while the religibus community is. reciting the Little Office in common. Method of Recital The official text of the Little Office to which the iiadul-gences are attached is the Latin text which is printed in the back of the.Roman Breviary. Any translation used must be a faithful version of this text, approved by the Sacred Penitentiary, or by a local ordinar~r in whose territory the language used is current (canon 934). It is nb longer necessary that the Latin text be printed along with the translation, as was formerly the case, but the translation used should be complete, that is, it should c0ntatin the rubrics as well as the text. The rubrics are Sufficiently clea~ and need no explanation. Two points, however, may be mentioned here in answer t6 questions received. The Te Deum is said at the end of the third lesson of Matins .throughout the year,-except during. Advent, .and from Septuagesirna Sunday, to Holy Saturda~r_inclusive. But even during these periods it is said on all feasts of the Blessed Virgin, as Well as on the feast of St. ,Joseph which occurs during Lent. .The Final Antiphon of the Blessed Virgin 'is always DECISIONS OF THE HOLY SEE ¯ -said after Compline, and after Lauds if the offee is inter-rupted then: otherwise after the last hour immedihtely-fol-lowing upon Lauds. In the common recitation this final antiphon must likewise be said at the end of any redtation, for instance, at the end of the litt.le hours (Nones), if these - be said separately. Conctusion Religious should c.herish the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin and make frequent use of it. It,,is theoldest offdal prayer of th~ Church in hon~ar of Our Lady. If obliged by rule to rec¯ite the Little Office, religious will do well to avoid being absent from the common recitation, or from asking to be excused for slight reasons. 'They may rest" assured that Our Lady will not. be outdone in generosity, and will reward them bountifully for the devout and fervent recital of "Mary's Hours." Decisions Of e Holy See [EDITORS' NOTE: Inthe past .it has been our policy to publish only recent Deci-- si0ns of the Holy See which might be, of interest to religious. However, it fre-quently happens that there Were no such decisions; and consequently this depart'. merit "had to be omitted. To avoid such a ¢onting.ency in the. future, we have itiMded on the new polic~ of-puNishing both recent and old decisions. The latter will gather under one heading the various pronouncements that ,pertain to the canons governing religious, ] Old Decisions Regarding Impediments to Entrance (c. ~42) ' 1. The first among the diriment impediments listed in this canon enacts that "'those who have belonged to a non-Catholic sect" cannot validly be admitted to the novitiate. As soon as the Code was pub-lished, these words gave rise to the notion that converts coultt not be receivedinto the.religious life without a dispensation from'the Holy See. To dispel this false notion one of the first answers given by the Cqd~ Commission, October 16, 1919, declared that these words of 24 Ja~uar~., 1947 -,~, DECISlOIq8 OF THE-HOLY SEE 'ca'non, 542:did.'not a~6ply. ~i(o~tho~e wh~o, moved by ~the ~g~ace 6f .God, camednto~be Church from~ h~resy, or ~chism in which they ,were .born,, 'but~ rather to ~thbse .~ho fell away frbm the faith arid joined a non- Catholik . ' A 'lattr,an~ei give~- by' the same Gommission.~Jnly{ 30, ,.19,34, interprets~the~'wbrds "non-~atholic sect" to include ~"as regains all 1{~1 e~ects : ~. persdds w~o~belong or ,bav~ belonged'tot an atBeisti~ ~:-'Id:view of these answers, the S.~ Congregatmn' of Religiou~ now ~p~roves-tbe following text for new constitutions: "Those whohave fallen away fro~ the Catholic faith and have joined a non-Catholic or atheistic sect." :: ,.~., ~The .l~st,,of the.impedi~nt impediments .to entrance into reli-gion ,.(.canon -542, ,2 o ~ excludes '-'Ori~ntal~:. in institutes ~of,~ the Latin rite~ithout,thee,written permission of t~e~Sacred gongregation:for .t~e East~rn~Church." ~owever, according to anl answe~ given by,the ~ode Commissi6fi,ofl. November 10 ,q 925,.~VOrientals who, without changihg their rite,~ are*being ~r~pa~ed to ~establish .religious houses and'provinces of.the':Ofiental rit4; ma~ be,licitly, admitted td the nov-" iceship imreligious~institutes of the Latin rite, without, the permission ~dntioned in canon 542, 20." The r~ason for the seeming'exception "is obvious, Ordinarily the Oriental who joins ~ Latin institute~must-change his rit~. Hence the ~eed of~spe~ial p~r~ission from th~ S. Congregation of the Eastern Church. Hoyever, after the first world ,war s~me re~jgious orders of.men ;beg~n to ~receive candida.tes belong-ing to an Eastern rite with a, view to the establishment of, houses~ of s~ch a rite, and eventu~11,y eyen of provinces. _Sinqe these novices did not change their rite.,during the course o~t.he novitiate, thg Code ~9mm{~sion'~eclared thug ~t~erg ~as no need to obtai~ermissiqn to admit them'kto the novitiate, of the Latin ,rite. ~. . . 3. A joint decree issued by the S. Congregatipn of:Religious and ~y .:the. S.~gongreggtion of Seminaries ~n&,Studies, dated. J~ly, 25 !941, cofitains, the ~following part ,of interest ,to ,religious~ "Before a person who.for any .reason~ ha~.qeft a geminaryr,is~ admitted .:to a~ reli- "gi0us fami.lg,,,the religious.:s~perior.,must have recourse to the.,S: Con~ gregatiqn o~ Rdigious,. which will inform .superiors of~jts ,dgdsion after .having,.con~idered-all the circumstances of the cas~.'~ ,.This decree was. appgoved, confirmed, and ord~re~ published by.His Holi- ,, ~'When, a_we, first p'rinted ;this ,decree in~ ~VIEW,, FOR, ~EEIGIOUS 25 DECISIONS O~ THE~HOLY ~SEE r Reoietu for Religiotts ' (v~l. I, p. 71) we expressed the opinion that 'qf a'seminarian applied for entrance into a religious institute and was accepted by the religious superior before, he left the se?ninary, the case would not have to be referred to the S. Congr.egation of, Religious.". This opinion was ¯ confirmed by a private answer of the S. Congregation, dated May 11, 1942, and sent to th~ procurators general of several religious orders. It reads as follows: "The Decree of the SS. Congregations of Reli-gious and'of Seminaries does not apply to those who leave a seminary or coll~ge in order to embrace a life of perfection in some religious institute, as sufficient provision is made for them in canon 54.4, § 3." New Decisions September 14. 1946: The Sacred Congregation of the Sacraments issued a lengthy decree of great interest and importance. It grants to pastors~the faculty of administering the sacrainent of confirmation to dying persons-under certain circumstances. After-recalling l~he teaching of the Church regarding the nature and effects of this sacra-ment, the decree recalls that only bishops are its ordinary ministers ¯ but that to provide ~r the needs of the faithful the Church sometimes confers this faculty upon priests as extraordinary ministers. Since these needs have increased grea, tly because of the war. the decree makes the following provisions: 1. By a general ir~dult of the Holy See. the faculty to confer the sacrament of confirmation as extraordinary ministers (can. 782, § 2) and limithd by the conditions liste~l below is granted, to the following priests: (a) to pastors who have their own proper'territory; ('b) to the vicars mentioned in canon 471 (practically, to religious who are pastors) and to vicars econorne (administrators Of parishes) ; (c) to priests who have the permanent and exclusive care' of souls in a certain territory .with a determined church, provided they have all the rights and duties of pastors. It is important to note that the decree grants this faculty 0nly to priests who have parochial rights and duties in a determined terrffory. Therefore it does not grant the faculty to assistant pastors, nor to chaplains of hospitals even thoffgh they be exempted from the juris-diction of the pastor. Furthermore, pastors can'not delegate this faC-ulty to other priests since, as will be seen below, it is granted to them for their personal use only. 2. The above-mentioned ministers may personally, administer confirmation validly and licitly only to the faithful who~are actually 26 danuary, 1947 DECISIONS OF THE HOLY SEE ~within their territory, ,including persons who ~ir~ there temporari)y. Therefore they may administer the sacrament to persons in semi; naries, hospices, hospitals, and all other institutions inclu.ding those cared for by exempt religious. However, the faculty, may be used only when the faithful in question are in danger of death from a seri-ous illness from which it is foreseen that they will die.- 3. They may use this "faculty even in the episcopal city, provided the bishop cannot be called or, is legitimately impeded from confer-ring the sacrament personally, and pr.ovided further that there is no other bishop (.for example, a titular bishop) who could act as a sub-stitute without grave ihconvenience. 4. Confirmation should be administered according to the disci-pline 6f the Code of Canon Law as adapted-to the circumstances: and °the rite,prescribed by the Roman Ritual should, be used as gix;en in detail'in the decree. Furthermore, the sacrament must be conferred gratis: that is, no stipend may be. demanded under any circumstances. 5. The sick person should be instructed as well as circumstances per.mit so that he may receive the sacrament fruitfully. If he recover.~, ,the instruction is to,be continued. , (Cf. can. 786.) °6.' The pastor mus.t enter the name of the person confirmed, together with" his own ,name and those of the parents and sponsors, in the confirmation record book according to the prescriptions Of canon 798~, With this addition: "Confirmation was administered,by reason of the apostolic indult because of the serious illness of the perso.n confirmed, which put him in danger of death." It must also be entered in the baptismal record (can. 470, § 2). If the person confirmed belongs to another parish, his pastor is to be informed and SUlSplied with all the necessary data. 7. The pastor must s~nd an authentic 'notice to the diocesan ordinary each time. he confirms a'sick person in danger of death. In Part II, the decree repeats the provisions of the Code of Canon Law concerning the sacrament of confirmation; and in Part III, the form to'be used in administering the sacrament. It began to have the force of law on.January I, 1947. / In conclusion it should be" n6ted t1~at this decree also applies to infants @ho are in danger of death from a serious illness from which :it is foreseen that they will die. (Cf. can. 788.) :Living in Chris!: CharIes,F. Donovan, S.J. AS LONG as we are conscious, the powers of our soul are bu~y doing o,ne of three things: they are absorbing _and assimilating facts, pictures, impressions, stories, sounds from the wo~ld around us thrbugh the co~muni,ca=" tion line of the senses; or they are woi~king on data already" assi.mila_ted '-reflecting, loving, hoping, fearing, desiring, planning; or they are communicating our personaliz.ed reaction to our environment---our ideas, affections, hol~es, fears, and plans to the world .outside. While we are fully conscious; the soul is active, incr, easing its ,store o~ material for cognition and volition, acting upon the existing store through ~eflecting and willing, or giving outward expression to its thought~ and desires._ If it is our" °conCern t6-subject the total activity of our soul, ~t0 the domination of Chris~; we must see to it that Ch'rist enters into and olors each of these rational processes, the assimi-lat~ ive, the menta,l, .and the expressive process. We must 'make sure that Christ is th~ standard and sharer of every- ~hing that enters our soul, of everything that transpires within the soul, and of everything.that, the soul transmits to the world. Th'is care for the complete Cbris.tianizing of our~soul~s activities may be summed up in the prayer: "Let everything that enters my soul be Jesus;sifted; ~let~every-thing that is in my soul be Jesus;ste~ped: let everything that ;leaves my soul be Jesus-laden." It:is important" in the first plac~-to be careful about what we allow into our hallowed' inner sanctum. We ~ire to a large _~ktent determined in character and cast of mind by the impressibns from the world that pass through the LIVING IN (~HRIST gales of the senses;-and so we must make Christ our gate~ keeper'so that all undesirables will be excluded. All ,of us ,have an enemy within, a fifth column--the°drag of con-cup'iscence and the fuse of pride. But tlfe unruly~elements inside can best be controlled if they are not supplied and atigmented from-without. The world bristles with sights, @ords, actions, ideas, emotions which are unholy;~a'nd it is _wise to Use Our Lord as a sort of screen through which every applicant for admission to our soul must pass ir~ order that unworthy and un~-Christlike applicants may be screened off and rejected. If a visitor enters the contagious ward of a hospital, he is given a mask to wear to keep from inhaling lethal germs. There are germs lethal to our soul. everywhere _about us, not isolated in a single spot as in a ward. ,,We are not being prudish when we are on our guard against them~ °There: are books not necessarily vicious books, but sophisticated, cynical books which we will not read if Christlike sim-plicity is important to us. There are topics which we will not discuss, pictures we will not entertain, tastes and atti-tudes we will not imitate if Christ's friendship is precious to us. It is not a sign of weakness or immaturity to guard one's treasures: anyone knows that. And the common-sense concl-usion is that if we leave something unguarded-it is because we do not treasure it. Since Christ is our treasure, let Him also be the norm for deciding what is fit for entrance into our soul and what is not. It is foolhardy, if not insin-. cere, to say, "I can stand this book or this conversation or this luxury even though it isn't quite Christlike.", What Our Lord can't stand, I can't stand. And therefore our avowed program must be "Let everything that enters my soul be Jesus-sifted." But the world outside, is static and tame compared-to the world in our soul-~--,the world of imagination, of con- CH/(RIIE$ F. DONOVAN Review for Religious science; of memory,mind, and will; the woridof worries, affections, regreys, daydreams, aversions,,and joys. Human iife, rationai,lifel is essentially interior. We may ~xternalize some of it in speech or act, but.only a fraction of it. There are th6ughts too deep for words; there ~are secrets of the heart, there are feelings, reflections, and desirestoo swift and profuse for expression. It is this inner universe, this realm oflour own making, this life Within a life, that'we most particularly want dedicated to God. The exclusion of worldly influences from the soul guar-antees a Christlike inner life no more than precaution against .germs guarantees bodily vigor. Beyond and deeper than the question, "What goes into. the soul?" is the ques-tion, "What goes on in the soul?" Are the manifold activi-ties that add up to the self I have made and am making out of the self God gave me the int,erests, efforts, and attitudes that constitute my truest life are these uniformly inspired and guided by Christ? Suppose, for instance, I like my current assignment. Is this liking merely personal and subjective? or has the satisfaction something to do with Christ? And what of the hobbies, friendships, and arribi-tions I find most zestful? They may be wholesome in themselves, but they should not be left unrelated to Our Lord. The sanctification of our inner life, as far as it depends upon us, consists in subjecting all "affections, thoughts., attachments, and dreams, all passing reflections and lasting ideals to the sweet yoke of Christ. There should be no region of the soul that is neutral, no enthusi-asm that is merely natural. The process of baptizing all the innocent and spontaneous activity of °the soul, of extendi.ng and.intensifying the sway of Christ in ou~ heart, is the lifelong business of growth in holiness. It is a hori-zontal and a vertical growth: more. of our life ismore deeply saturated with the spirit and influence of Christ. 30 danuar~t, 1947 LIVING IN CHRIST That is what we 'mean when we say, "Let everything in my soul be Jesus-steeped." Finally, the inner self is not hermetically sealed. It is constantly pouring out through the communication lines of the body and asserting itself before the world. Whether we think of it or not, by merely living with people, by .the most casual association, we have some influence 6n them, because ~ impressions from us--words, attitudes, demeano~ ---enter, thiough their senses and register, however slightly" and evanescently, on their souls. Herein lies outsocial opportunity and responsibility. Some part.of us is going to alter the people we meet. What part is it going to be? We imagined a screen at the entrance to our souls, sifting out and discarding un-Christlike elements. We do not want a similar screen at the exit so that everything Christ-like is separated and hel~l within. If we have anything worth communicating to the world, it is not our ego: it is Our Lord. We aim at a s,anctity that is not purely self-contained, but. outflowing and apostoli, c. " , The apostolic ideal-is summed up perfectly in the~ prayer said at Mass while the missal is being changed for the reading of the gospel: "May the Lord be in my heart and on ~y tips, that I may announce His holy gospel worthily and well." Note the twofold presence of Christ that makes one an apostle Christ in the heart and Christ. on the lips. ~To have Our Lord on the lips and not in the heart is hypocrisy. To have Him in the heart and not on the lips is selfish, perhaps cowardly. Not just our words. but our whole conduct, our patience and sympathy, our expression and gestures, can be me.ssengers of Christ, the true and enduring good ne ~ws, sent out-from our souls to ourfellowmen. We want nothing to go Out into the world, as.representative of us.that is not also representative of Christ. And so With a sense ofurgency and .responsibility 31 CHARL]~S F. DONOVAN we,resolve, "Let everything that leaves ,my soul be Jesus-laden." ' 0 ~ It is almost a spiritual, bromide that sanctity is not something for only a segment of our lives, whether it be a segment, of time or a segment of interest or activity. The ideal is to have no piece-work or paff,time holiness. The ideal is for sanctity to suffuse and interpenetrate the total life in all its areas and at all its levels. And this means a threefold co-operation with Christ, Christlike in learning, Christlike in being, Christlike in doing. A .prayer com-prehensive enough to embrace all conscious aqtivity, yet which includes life's complexity and richness in a broad three-part formula is the one recommended here: Let everything that enters my soul be Jesus-sifted. Let everything that is in my soul be Jesus-steeped. Let everything that leaves my soul be Jesus-laden. COMMUNICATIONS ON PRAYER In our editorial (pp. 3-4) v~e ask for communications on prayer. It will help us greatly if the following points are observed by those .who send such communications: 1. If at all p.ossible, type your letter, double-spaced, and leave at l~ast an inch margin on each side of the page. 2. Make the letter as brief as you reasonably can, withoflt hbw-ever sacrificing'ideas ~or the sake of brevity. 3. Address your letter to: Communications Deparfmenf, ~ Revlew For Religious St. Mary's College, St. Marys, Kansas. 4. Names will not be published,with these ie~t~rs unless the senders explicity ask" for this. However, if you do not object to doing so, please'enclose your name, so that the ~ditors can get in touch with you if this is necessary. ' 32 "Open My Moul:h, 0 ,Lord!" Richard L. Rooney,.-$,.~,-~ ~UR vocal prayers are quite likely to be unsatisfactory to our; ~ selves, and, eve are afraid, to God. One of tl~e chief causes of. this condition comes from the fact that frequently they art too" superficial. How many of us religious find, for example, our best, most meaningful prayer in the daily r~citation of the Office? We say. the familiar words. We know what we are saying; but, do we not stop on the 'surface of them? Does the real depth and the beauty and the energy embodied in them penetrate our souls? We recite those prayers. Do we really pray them? Since we are asking a number of questions, may we add one more?: How many times in the past year have you taken the prayers of the Office as subject matter for your meditations? It is this very prac-. rice that we would urge upon anyone who wants to change the daily recitation from an onus to a real opus. Let a religious take time out regularly, to meditate on these ~surface-worn and apparently well, known prayers and he (or she) will experience a doubly surlSrisinlg benefit. He will find a real spiritual treasure hidden in the ~rayers be has so long taken for granted. He will go back to choir and find that the prayers which he has recited for years have taken on a new. life and warmth. He will no longer find himself "saying'" the office but actually pra~.tinq it !. The use of books which deal with the Our Father, the Hail Mary, the Creed, the Psalms will demonstrate the truth of these statements to anyone who gives them an honest trial. The present article, and future articles that We offer here, will a~tempt a like demonstration for the shorter or rfilnor pr~ayers scattered throughout the breviary. They are the prayers which are most likely to slip°off our tongues with ~the greatest dispatch. Again, the prayers selected for these pages Will be such as are cbmmon to both the full Divine Office and the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The~" are offered here in the hope that they will enrich our readers' prayer life in general and in particular will give new light, arid life~'~b thei~ Offi&-worship. The "'Aperi'" Having made the sign of the cross, the religious or priest begins RICHARD L. ROONEY Reofew for Religious .the recitation of his Office with a prayer which sl~ould be committed to mem0ry~.~ If. it is, it can be made to'serve as an introductory prayer for any and all other prayers and works, from a visit to the chapel to a trip to the laundry. It will help to make of everything that one does a canticle of praise to the Lord in fair weather or foul. The Aped is, in fact, a brief but pregnant instruction in the whole science of prayer, of conversation with God. o Think and pray Over it .fin your own gray, or consider prayerfully the following ideas: "Open my mouth, 0 Lord." How often we forget that we cannot so much as begin to p~ay unles~ God Himself inspires and aids us! We cannot so much as say. ."Abba" (Fad:her) unless the Holy Spirit gives us to say it, unldss He opens our mouths and looses our tongues. True here especially are the Lord's words, "Without me you can do nothing!" We cannot even ~peak to God by ourselves alone: we cannot name the Lord Jesus without His help[- i "to bless thy Holy Name" That is one beautiful thing about the Office, it stresses our own blessing of God rather, than seeking further blessings for ourselves from Him. It takes us away from our selves. Perhaps that is one reason" why "objective" prayer is less popular than more personal ¢ffu_sions ! Let me pause a moment and look at my own prayers. Which pl~edominates in them? Praise? ot petition? .Why? How.much more we would grow in divine life if we looked out and up at Him rather than in and down at ourselves, if we sang God's blessings instead of crying our own woes. "cleanse as well my heart from all empty, evil and distracting thoughts." A peasant going to an audience with a king dons his best raiment. It may be poor, but it will certainly be clean. Our own souls may not be rich with the thoughts of an Aquinas or glowing with the love of a Bonaventure but they can at least be clean when we gd to talk with God. " Being poor and weak we need God's help here again to second our efforts to dust away thoughts, which are empty, to wash away thoughts which are evil, to banish thoughts which would intrude themselves to Blur our converse V~ith the Divine Majesty. ,Our thoughts are~ empty when they are not filled with God or :.34 danuar~, 194Z ~'OPEN .MY MOUTH, 0 LORDt'~ things divine~ or His interests in ourselves and. others, They are evil, when they are proud, vengeful, bitter, impure, hateful, discgura.ged; despairful, small, petty, mean. They are distracting When they would lead, our minds away frorfi God even to things good in them-selves but out of place here in this wondrous hour of communion with Him. "Enlighten my mlnd." How much this dim little intellect of mine needs the casting into it of light divine~! How much I need to see in the darkness that.sur-rounds and sometimes fills me! But I cannot see unless God gives me light. I can take courage, for the good God hhs this light. He can, He will share it with me~ Torpid, cold, inert, its embers dying, my will need~ to be stirred up into active, flaming love. Oh, not the love of feeling, but the white-hot love of~ faithfulness to my state, to my fellows; the love that shows itself in little, hidden sacrifices, rule-observance, kindness; understanding, sympathy. I have not the strength nor the courage to stir it up myself. Do you then, dear God, enliven it and set it afire. "to the end that I may recite this Office worthily, with attention and devotion." Our preceding petitions have not been sent to the heart of God for anything that we might get out of them; but to the end that God may be better praised and served: to the end that we may give Him a gift, a gift of love, a tiny love-gift-offering of praise; to the end that this praise may be less unworthy of Him than it ever would be with~ out His help, without the touch of His grace:to the end, finally, that it may not be marred by any inattention, any niggardliness, any holdin'g back of love, ,any willful imperfection. "and that I may deserve to be heard in the presence of thy D;vlne Majesty through Christ our Lord. Amen." Who am I to stand before God, even to praise Him? Of myself deserve nothing save exclusion from the divine presence. I deserv~ only ieprobation. If God will hear this my initial petition, however, which,I offer through His divine Son, then by His grace I shall merit to bd heard. My feeble voice shall be joined toall the voices of the other members of~His Mystical Body. All of ours in turn shall be blended into Christ's. We shall then be heard everi in the presence of the all-august God, not for ourselves, but for His reverence. "RICHARD L. ROONEY "0 Lord, in union with that divine intention with which thou didst praise God on earth, I offer thee these hours." -. O Lord Jesus Christ who are also lover, friend, savior, and ~rbt~er, I-Tinsignifi_cant, of little worth, sinful, on occasion Your .c.rucifier--I offer Thee these hours: Hours? Nay, technically they'are ['hours": actually they are but a few minutes. Yet despite their brevity and my littleness I offer these prayers to You. I offer them through YOU to the Father. ° -':Takethem, then. U/rite them to that intention by whicl~ You di'rected Your Own praise to God while You were here on earth, tha~ intention th~t~You still have in.the tabernacle and in You/ place in l~e~aven. Then, lo, out of that union my poor pri~yers shall be t~rans-formed. ¯ The Father will look and see not me but You praying again 'in me. ~ He will be as delighted today as He was yesterday when You offered Him the sacrifice of praise on the night:shrouded hilltop or at "th~candle-lit supper table. He will not see'the soilurebf my selfish-~ heSS .nor hear the dissonance of my inconstancy but only the blazing beautyoof Your divine voice! BOOKS FOR HOSPITALS Religious who conduct hospitals, especially With nurses' training schools, will be interested in these books: Medical Ethics/:or Nurses. by Father Charles 3. McFadden. O.S.A., and Professional Adjust-ments, by Sister Mary Isidore Lennon, R.S.M. Father McFadden'~ is the best book on medical ethics we have yet seen. The material~is carefully selected, arranged with a fine sense of proportion, and helpfully illustrated by numerous practical Cases. Published by F. A. Davis Co., Philadelphia. Pp. xv + 356. $3.00. Prot:essional Adjustments presents a well-rounded plan for intro- ~iucing the student nurse into her newly-embraced professiorial life. it shows her the entire life (interior, social and strictly prdfessional) bf the "nurse from entrance into training school to finial achievement. ~ke Father McFadden's book, it is eminently practical. Published by C. V. Mosby Co., 3207 Washington Ave., St. Louis 3, Mo. pp.~299., $3.00. 36 Qualifications a ,ood Pos!:ulant: Sister of the p~:~cious Bloo~l- [EDITORS' NOTE:'W~ are printing this article and the one which,follows.because we think that religious will find in~thefa much helpful material for Vocation Week. "The author, of the prese'nt article prefers to remain unknown, [t is substantially the samd as a paper read at the Vocational Institute 'held at St. Francis College, Quincy, Illinois. June 30, 1946, under the auspices of. the Franciscan Fathers. For' a treatmen~ of this same sufiject from the canonical point of view, see the article,. ~"Admissio~ to the Religious Life," by Father James E. Risk. S.J., REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, Volume II, p. 25.] ~E ALL AGREE that there is an imperative need. of ~ ,~ vocations to our Sisterhoods today. -We are keenly aware of the~acute shortage corrfmunities are,suffer-. i,ng in the numberof vocatioris, and as a cons4quence we are putting forth every effort to increase them. Bht in doing ,this we must not forget that the candidate who seeks admid2 sion must be p.roperly~,,qualified, for the 0life she wants to. lead. Therefore an inv.estiigation as to th~ fitness o'f the possible member is of first importance; and in our eagerness to get recruits, we must be on our guard lest we, sacrifice qu'ality for quantity. ¯ When a young, girl, plans her life and ~he question of a possible call to the reli.gious state arises, .sh~ will naturally ask l~rself,-"Have I a true vocation?:' Before she Can answer that question intelligently, a serious c0nsider_ation ofthe nature of re.ligious vocation and an examination of her qualifications for the religious life are of fun&imentdI importance, both to her and to the community ~she °may desire to join. What is a vocation to the religious life? "It is a call that proceeds from God to serve Him-and to seek perfection by faithfully following the three evangelical counsels. " ~ SISTER OF THE PRECIOUS BLOOD Review for Religious According to canon law: "Eve~:y Catholic who is not debarred by any'legitimate ithpediment, and is inspired, bv .a'. right intention, and is fit to bear the burdens of the reli-giou's life cap be admitted into religion" (Canon 538). , Given that there are no legitimate 'impediments,. our first-duty is to ascertain whether the applica_nt is motivated by.the right intention. In Chapter 58 of. The Rule of St. Beffedict; the saint instructs the novice master to ~'watch over 'the newly admitted postulant with .the utmost care and to see whether he is truly seeking God,_ and is fervent in the Work of God, in obedience and in humiliations." Our next step is to consider the essential qualific~itions that will make toward "fitness to bear the ,burdens of the religious life." ,These qualifications can be summed up under three main headings. Acc, ording to Reverend B. Strittmater, O.S.B., "a true vocation rrianifests itself in the" necessary~fitness; namely, "the candidate must be endowed. -with physical health, he must be able to acquire, sufficient kriowledl~e, and he must possess adequate sanctity o(life.''1 To face ,the difficulties and to carry on the apostolic" Work of our various communities, one' needs physical strength and fitness. The life of a religipus is a strenuous -one that taxes the strength day after day, with f~w reprieves. It does .not take a .gigantic nor a herculg.an strength, but it does.demand a normally healthy body to, e.ndure~l~he strain of working through the'day plus the addi-. tional duties demanded by the rule and customs of the respective congregation or order to Which a Sister.belongs.- , This is true of every type of active life, be it nursing, social work, teaching, cat.echizing, caring for the orphan .or the-old folks,'and so on. 'A normally healthy person is more likel~ to maint~in,a IRev. B. Strittmater. O.S.B., "On Vocation. What It Is~" Journal of Religious ln-structi. on, XVI (~April, 1946), 719. Januar~], 1947 QUALIFICATIONS OF A GOOD POSTUL_ANT well-balanced emotional.and mental life. We can expect" such a candidate, .under proper guidance, more easily'to develop,th'e emotional maturity which is an essential requi-site in working for and with souls. We know, too, that child-adults, can accomplish littlethat is of lasting value, Finally, as ~he Scholastics say: "Grade is built on nature."_ It is frequently in a "healthy body that we find the healthy soul." It is true that a number of religious; many of whom .the Church has crowned with the halo of sanctity, were ph.ysically weak and performed great works in spite of these handicaps. Ho-weve_r, few of them wi~re thus handicapped when, they sought admission to the con-vent. .The vocation to physical suffering when.given tO .religious usually comes after the novitiate days,-after tFie soul has been formed and tested. I~t is all-important, there-. fore, that our candidates .possess energetic, healthy bodies, .capable of physical endurance,~free from physical, deformi-ties, and vibrant~with the vitalit3~ of youth. - The applicant must, of course, have soundness of mind: there must be no strain of insanity and no highly emotional ,traits; and it is well to ascertain these facts in reghrd to every applicant. It is evident that such persons are not. desirable for religious life, since they will never be able to make themselves one with the heterogeneous group that lives together in a convent. But mere soundness of mind is not sufficient. The can-didate must be able to gr~asp the meaning of religious lif~ and understand its obligations. This is essential because, if the religious life is not understood, the subject will be car-ried onward by emotionalism which will manifest it.~elf ii~ a crisis. Such a person might remain normal if she were in the lay state, but in the religious state she easily becomes neurotic. Moreover, she must-,ha~e sufficient intellectual' ability to make herself useful in such a way that her supe- 39 A~.SISTER:OF TI'~E PRE¢IO~US "BLOOD ~riors .know~sh~e will ~carry.thelresp0nsibility j6f. the~p0sition or W~ork,given fier,~.be.,,it ~high or low':. ~,_~In~a ~6r~d,~.oher intel-lectuababilit. y, must be ~u~ient to~make her.,a responsible, dependable ~r~ligio~s. ~. ~ ~.~ ~ L~, ~ ',,~ ~ ~ ~ ~. Be~jd~s~aving sufficient, intellectual ability.~t6,gra~p the ,mea.fiivg of religi0us:life and,of .ac~ui~ting:herself. bf the ~0rk assigned h~r, ~tbe applkant ~mus~also~ poss~s~ those q,al.~fies. ~f chhracter, which. ~are .requi~ed,,,for~ the: s0cihl "[~spects of common life:~ By this.,I,~mean~that.~he,must.~have .ability ~an~. the[ disposition, to react~tO her environment ~consistent, effective, :afidqnt~rated-~ann~r~. A~:religious.,.~oes .npt, liye ,~¢i~h~one;.: t~o,.~or, eve~.thre~ people; ~but ,~ith ,Ja.rge :g~.pup.that may .humber ~fr6m ten ~t6 a~hundr~d~ or.more-. .persons~of~alLcha#ac.ters, .ages; temperamen~;~and~ di~posi- .ti0n~. She must' p.ut aside h~r o~fi,tastes;her o~n~likes' and ,g.js!~ikes, inxorder, to:live the co~munity or~family' life in peace:?nd harm6oy.~,. It is ~important.~therefo~e:tliat "didate possess ~ ~ealthy S0dal attitude., ~he .following. statement,, made b.yz a ~n~ted ~psychiatrist, ~ seems ,.to., me to q~r~y.~a~special message to~feligiousdn regard to this~point. .He~said:~"I much prefer t0 see a, young~ girI whb has lived the normal social life of an ~ adolescent having~tasted- its .innP~nt.~njoyments to the full.enter a convent thanAhe gir!~ ~.ho~seeks,to isolate h~rself an~.spend mffch- ti~e avher , .devotions ~n preference to social inter~ourse~it~:others. ~It has been my~e~perience~ that, ~any~religious, ~wh~ are s~kjng v0cations~f0r thei~ ord~rs,~have m~de~jfist this~error ~of e~gouraging the~girl ~who.isolhtes he~self :in,preference to the~one who enj0~s having a good~time:~ ,;Later,. time proves that the isolationist loses h~r-e~0tional,~ evefi'mental bal-ance, and.becomes unfit to carry on,.her duties as.a religious.~' This[needs~.~o further~comment, ,~hefefor~ the :candidate ought: t0 give.s~me assurance, that,she possesse~in a. measure the~ fol!o~ing charicteristici She sbguld ~sh0~,that'~ She danuar~], 1947 QUALIFICATIONS OF A GOOD POSTULANT recognizes, her own~ assets and limitations; knows enough about human beings not~to exp"ect too much from them; is .adaptable and open-minded; enjoys her work; sleepswell: is interested in the common good; has a sense of humor; ap-pears calm, happy, sereneY - Possessed df such characteristics the applicant will be enabled to adapt and adjust herself to the mln~r different situations she will meet, and will the more easily learn the~ art of becoming "all things to all men." Such a healthy -social attitude arms the candidate to meet and overcome the problems .that. will arise; at the s;ime time, it helps her to appreciate the opportunity community life. offers that her iridividual life might be a fuller and.richer one.8 The third qualification required of the candidate is that "she possess adequate holiness of life." We are not looking for perf.ection, but there must be a foundation upon which the structure of Christian perfection can be built if the~.can-didate i~ to reach the goal of religious life which is the seeking of God through charity. Therefore it is .not suffi-cient for a young girl merely to appear pious; something farmore genuine must be manifested. "Briefly, she should sho¢ a real interest in things religious, such as the glory of God, the welfare of the Church of God, and the salvation of souls. She will recognize that she has her own limi~a2 tions and consequently needs guidance and help; this. is another mark of a practical Christian spirit. Most essential, "however, is the spirit of prayer. This can be determini~d especially by frequent.attendance at Holy Mass and the fre-quent reception of the sacraments. '~ ¯ ' The fundamental prerequisites for religious vocation are charity and sincerity. The more fully charity is devel- ~Cf. Carl H. With;rington, Educational Psychology (New York: Ginn and Cdm-pariy, 1'946), p. 8Cf. Walter Farrell, O.P., 2t Companion r~ the Summa, Vol. Ill--The Fullnes, of Life (New York: Sheed and W, ard,. 1940), p. 5 I1 ft. 41 A SISTER OF ~HH PRECIOUS BLOOD Reuieu) fo~ Religious oped the more vital will b~e the growth of the religious in the Christian life, the more far-reaching the work fo~ souls. Therefore, love for Christ, love for Holy Mother Church, and love for one's fellowmen, and all three in a more than an average~measure, are the root and heart of a vocation and constitute the fundamental and indispensable motivation in every call to the higher 'life. Evidences of such a charity - should-be noted in the conduct of the candidate before she is accepted intothe postulancy. Charit~ alonewill not suffice; the'candidate's seeking for God must be sincere. The determination she shows in ogercoming inevitable difficulties and obstacles, her candor and'frankness in'her ~elatiofis with stiperiqrs and com-panions, these are manifestations, of the sincerity of "her intentions and-the integrity of her motives. Without this sincerity all efforts on the p:irt'of superiors to form and, guide the future religious will be more or less wasted; hence the importance of te,sti,n~ this virtue of the applicant. Humili}y and obedience, reverence and willing submis- Sion to superiors are essential. A proud disposition Under-mines the spirit of humble andvoluntary'obedience, hn. obedience that should be. p)ompted by ~onscience and a ~re, spect for authority. The applicant who has a proud and insubordinate character is not suited for the religious life and should not beehcouraged. OI~ the other hand, the soul with a humble disposition, who-is convinced of her own limitations and consequent dependence,on God, who is con-vinced too of-tl~e need of prayer, of the necessity for suf-fering, and of the usefulness of correcti6ns, shows great promise. Such a soul will easily be led to realize~the impor-tance and value of obedience, the necessity of renouncing self-wi,ll, and the need of following the directions of a supe~ riot. Patience and generosity should be manifested to some 42 January, 1947 QUALIFICATIONS OF'A GOOD POSTULANT degree, but if the candidate has true charity and'is sincere and ob~di~n.t these virtues will gradually be-developed under the proper direction. Finally she must have the cou.r.age and determination to follow through, to persevere no matter what obstacles confront her, to push on without ever resting on past laurels, and to do this every day of her life. A further important consideration is the family back-ground of the Calididate. This is a real necessity, today, when Our family life has in so many, instances become cor-rupted by broken homes, infidelity to the marriage vows, mixed .marriages, birth control, and other prevalent social evils. Other things being equal, th6se candidates who come from Catholic families where the faith has been cher-ished and made the guiding principle of life more readily develop into promising religious embued with a holy enthusiasm for their vocation than candidates who com¢ from families where an atmosphere of genuine faith and sound morality ~1o not prevail. Special consideration should also be given to the recent convert, who seeks admission while yet in the first fervor of ber ne~v-found faith. Is'it not, better for her to spendzsome time in the world, con-scientiously fulfilling her duty as a,zealous Catholic before she takes on the additional burdens of religious life? Ought she not first learn to fight in the ranks before she enters the vanguard? I have tried to outline in some manner the desirable qualifications of those who would seek admission to the. , religious life. While no sing!e applicant Will possess these ifi their fullness, nevertheless there should be definite indi-cations that she possesses them in some degree and that with the help of God's grace and the proper guidance and direc-tion she will 15e able to reach that peifection her vocation -demands of he~. .- 43 SISTER OF THE PRECIOUS BLOOD It is most essential for the healthy growth of our reli-gious communities that we bear .in mind the fact that no~- every one wh~ knocks at the convent door is called to be a religious. It is the sacred duty of any Sister, be she supe~- "rior, novice mistress, or the'influential friend, to conscien-~ tiously investigate the qualification of any possible mem-ber before she encourages her to enter the convent. During the recent war, our young men an[l women were subjected to detailed ,physical and psychological examin'ations, and ~e were appalledat the number declared ,unfit to fight for tlae protection.of our country. The officers w~o conducted these examinations could not, and would'not admit those who were physically.and mentally unfit. We are recruiting forces to carry~on the work,,of Christ. We need women who measure up to standards. Religious ~ave always been honored in the Church of God, and it is essen-tial that we strive to keep Christ's Vanguard true to the title St. Cyprian has given it, "the claoi~e portion of Christ's~ flodk." If we admii: girls.to our postulancies and juniorates without using the proper discretion and prudence, we can-not expect our religious of the coming generation to main:- rain this standard. And only if we maintain it can Christ's~ -command, "Go ye forth into the whole world and preach the gospel to every creature," be fulfilledin that part of the apostoli~ field it is~given us. by the Church to cultivate. CHURCH UNITY OCTAVE INDULGENCES On, February 12, 1946, Pope Pius XII increased the indulgendes originally given to.the Octave observance. A plenary indulgence may be gained once a month by each of the faithful who recite the authorized prayers every day provided the usual ~onditions requisite for gaining a plenary indulgence are fulfilled. "'A plenary in-dulgence is also granted each .time during the Octave that the faithful shall recite the prayers for unity. In acJdition, on each day of the Octave a partial indulgence of 300 days may be gained provided that the same prayers are said with at least a contrite heart." (Cf. Church Unity Octave leaflet.) I cruifing for :he Bro :herhoods Brother Placidus, C.F.X. RECRUITERS for the various teaching orders encounter many obstacles in their zealous work, but the teaching o" Brother seems ~0-me~t more than his share~ In ad-dressing groups of grade and high,school pupils, he at once becomes aware of a towering barrier--the present-day world. The decline of home life, indifference to religious vocations among Catholic parents, separations ~ind vorces, lack df Catholic educational facilities for" all our Catholic youth, and the unreligious atmosphere in secular educational institutions--theie are~ some of the initial hindrances to the Brother recruiter. Such influences naturally narrow the recruiter's inter-ested audience. A further handicap may be added, namely, the general unpopularity of the teaching vocation. 'How-ever, the recruiter on his round accepts these hindrances as unavoidable evils bat finds it hard to meet a more intangible difficulty, which may be termed an attitude. He "tries to make excuse for it on the ground of lack of understanding about the importance of the teaching Brother in the teaching apostolate of the Holy Catholic Church. True, the teaching Brother is better understood and appreciated today than he was in past years; but there is still enough active misunderstandi~ng about him to deserve comment here. Except among boys who have come in contact with teaching Brothers in their schogls, there is a woeful laek0f information on the subject. ~hotlsands of boys in Catholic schools are fully aware of the-work of the priests and Sis-ters, but have never heard of a teaching Brother. " They can 45 BROTHER PI~ACIDUS , ~ ~, Retffe~v [or Religious distinguish the work ofdioceSan priests ffofn that of reli-~. gious, or the work o~ these tw6 from that ~f missionaries, but are completely unaware of the existence of men who have a God-given ~rocation to a consecrated, life in the class-" room. Pa_rents are equally uninformed. Even many who have boys under the care of the Brothers seem a bit confused as to ~_wh.at the vocation to the BrotherhOod really is. They believe "Brother" applies only tb candidates for the priest-, hood at a certain stage of preparation.~ But the almost general belief is that it applies only" to a member of a reli~ gious order who takes care of the temporal affairs of the monastery, that is, the lay Brother, ._ That the last-mentioned idea is in many boys' minds is apparent. frorri their openihg words to the recruiter in an interview. The boys obviously, feel that they h~ive a_cail. ~ from God, but realize that they lack the talent necessary"~ to'become priest.s. Since the recruiter-is interested only in ¯ candidates for classroom te_aching, he" has to direct such \ boys to orders which receive lay Brothers. He is forcedto " Lhis decision by the ever improving ~tandards required for diocesan and state certification of teachers. Gone are-the days when young men who lack the ment~al'ability to study for:.the priesthood-may be accepted into the ranks of the teaching Brothers. , Pastors Where Brothers teaqh insist rightly .tha't'only teachers Of recognized fibility be placed'on the staffs of their schools, but often, with strange: .inconsistency, they urge. that some boy of good character~but of limited mental capacity be giyen a chance to enter the ranks of th~ teaching Brothers. Where this attitude exists, its corollary.~is, also present, that anyone of except.ional ability, even though dra, wn'toward the life Of a ~teaching Brothe,r, must be oma_rk~d f6r the priesthood. Discussion of the possibility 46 ,lanuary; 1947 / RECRUITING FOR THE BROTHERHooDs of the priesthood for such a boy is certainly in order; but tha~ the' amount of intelligence should be the determinant is inadmissible. The late Rev. Felix Kirsch, O.F.M.Cap'., said on the subjecl~: Still an indulgent pastor may often come forth with this objec-tion: "But this particular boy is too intelligent to become a t~aching Brother." I should hardly think such an objection possible were it not for the fact that I recently heard a plea made against a boy's vocation on ~hls ground: How could any human intelligence be too" fine to b~e consecrated to God in the noble work of making men of our boys! Is any ability too fine for the work that we expe~t of the teachers in our high schools an.d colleges?.1 Another strange attitude all too frequently, confronts the Brother recruiter, that becoming a Brother is a half-way step in the service of God. Even many pr!ests and Sisters share this convictior~, s~tirely not through any lack of esteem for the Brothers, but most.ly from thoughtlessness or lack of understanding of the need and'importance of male religious teachers in the present working of the teaching aposto.late of the Church. The story of one Brother, new prominent in his con-gregation, illustrates the "half-Step" attitude quite clearly. While attending a high school conducted by" an 6rder of religious priests, he made known to his spiritual adviser his intention of becoming a teaching Brother. He was sur-prised to hear i~mediately, and on subsequent visits, a talk on the priesthood. He listened with attention to these talks and accepted them up to a certain poin.t. Af.ter se.veral ses-sions, when he still insisted, that he felt drawn to be a teaching Brother, his adviser said: "Bill, it's like ,this: Become a Brother, and you're serving God 50 per cent: become a priest, and you're serving Him 100 ~er ~ent." This per cent business set the boy to thinking. He 1The American Ecclesiastical Review, LXXVII (1927), p. 16. 47 BROTHER PLAcIDUS Review ~of Religio~s wondered what per cent his go.od mother w~s.earning in the service of Christ. And how. about the Sisters who had. taugh.t him in the elementary schools--they couldn't become priests what per cent for them? His: thinking~ became more int~eresting--if somewhat more confusedm during a-retreat which he made shortly afterwards. In bne 0f the talks,, defending the nobility of the.contemplative life; the retreat master said: "When,all is said and done, those heroic souls who enter the contemplative orders have gone all out in their zeal for God, and really, serve him 100 per cent." This made him wonder then whetlSer priests who-were not conte.mplatives were really serving God 100 per cent! The whole series of incidents dealing with the business 6f per-cents finally brought him. t6 thinking of God with a marking book in His hand, a.Divine Teacher g.rading all His children; and the picture likely brought him back t6 his original intention of becoming a te_aching Brothe~. It is perfectly natural that a zealous priest, interested in an increase in the number of pries, ts, be on the lookout for fitting candidateS. However, it would be helpful for him sometimes to take the long range view whenever he feels that he is losing a priestly vocation to the Brothers. ~Appropria.te' to this subject, one priest had this to say: It may seem paradoxical to contend, that the very dearth of priests should' urge ~s to encourage vocations t6 tff~ teaching Brother: hoods. Yet a venerable ecclesiastic, closely connected with elementary education for many years, has been quoted recently to the effect that. wherever the Br6thers are in charge of the seventh and e'ighth grades vocations to tl~e sacerdotal and the religious life are numerous, and that vocatlonsdecrease when the Brothers are replaced by the Sister~; The same authority went on to explain that boys oi: that age revere the Sisters, but are not so apt'to confide: in them.2 Any of the Brotherhoods can substantiate this sthte- ZKirsch, op. cit.o p. 15. ~ 48 Januarg, 1947 RECRUITING FOR THE BRO'rHERHOODS ment with statistics. A cer_tain Brothers' high~.s, cho61,~ opened only in ~1930, h~s affeady thirty-.two of its. gradu-ates ordained priests. Another, opened in 189~4, has sent two l~undred hnd twenty-two to become recipients of the sacrament of h0!y.orders. The conclusion then must be hpparent, tha~ morse Brot.bers means more priests. The tendency: t'o regard the Brother's vocation as a halfway measure is-very confusing tb an honest applicant. He has been told that the Church recognizes the vocation of a teacl'iing ~r.other as a special call. Then he finds some members of the Chfirch t~eating him to the prospect of not being able to serve God perfectly as a teaching Brother. Father. Claude- Kean,~ O.F.M. treats the matter poignantly in a recent article: This vocation [the teaching Brother's] is as distinct as our own [the Priest's]. Men do not choose to be Brothers: they are chosen by God for that role. Frequently from their earliest ,years, the Brotherhood attracts .them. They do, indeed, possess the physical, mental, and' moral fitness for ,the priesthood--as, for that matter, do many layfolk; but they lack that first of all vocational, d.eterminants, tho'desire, for the priesthood. (Italics mine.) Their articulate in-sistent call is not to the sanctuary, but to the Catholic sch0ol-room. They would imitate not the Christ of the Upper Room, offering mys-tical, Sacrifice, but the Christ of the Temple Portico, teaching daiiy.~ Although _tl~e picture presented ~bove may look pretty~ dark for the Brother recruiter, it actually .has its brighter aspects, not the least of which is the uniformly courteous welcome accorded him on his rounds by both pastors and Sister principals." Still'there is enough need for clarifying the rol'e of the te~aching Brother in the Church militant to justify what has been said above. oCf. The Priest, January, 1946, p. 25. The . u Unit:y THE Church Unity Octa~ce has as'its object the return of the Straying anderring'children of be'rest; schism, hnd i~fidelity to the true f~ld of their for"effathers. Our"Lord has said, ~-'Other sheep Iohave that ire, n0t0of this fold, them a~l~o must I bring. ~ There shall be one fold and 6he shepherd." (qohn. 10, 16:) There is but .ohe true fold. The sheel5 in other folds are'stray sheep, led by-wan: dering shepherds away fr6m their true home. It is the purpose of the Church Unity Octav~ to promote prayer, and work for thd benefit of these stray sheep that th.ey may qtiickly find their Father's home. TlSat tl'ie Church was always one and has ever existed as the true fold set.up by Christ is the.Catholic belief based upon the teach!ng of her Divine Founder Himself and upon,khe fact of her apostolic ~uc-cession. The Protestant notion that unity probably never existed. but that it might be realized by a compromise amongst the con-tending and bpposite opinions of the various religious bodies, is cer- -tainl'y untenable. Jesus Christ founded His one Church. That Church h~s.remained ~uch as He founded it in its visible, organic, and divinely constituted uniter with the divine protection promised to it~and,preserving it inviola'ble in its purpose and doctrine. The late Pius XI wrote in his encyclical, Mortalium Animos: '"There is but one way in which the unity of Christians may be. fos-tered, and that is by furthering the return to the one trueChurch of Christ of those who are separated fio~ it." ~ T~ent~r years before Pi.us XI wrote this, an Episcopalian minis-ter, fir~d with.thd ideal of unity and sighing for the reunion of all Christians founded an octave og.pra~rer as a means of fostering Chris-tian unity. This octave was ~o begin on the Feast of St. Peter's, Chair at Rome and to end with the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul. The Octave was to be used also fo.r studyipg the question of ,unity, especially, the doctrine involved ~nd' methods of attaining it and of acquiring a deeper U'nderstan~ing of thd~ problems that were ~re~ented by the many religious~bodi,es s~eparated fromo that -unity for which Christ had prayed. There are many reasons why we should pray and work earnestly for Church unity; but let us be content here to consider a few that are "basic and of special interest to us: God in His essence is perfectly one. All His qualities and~ftri- 50 THE CHURCH UNITY OCTAVE butes are cer~te~ed in Himself, so that 'qHe"who is" is the Truth, He.i~ Holiness, He is Supreme Goodness, and He is Infinite Perfec-tion. Alth~.ugh in God there is a distinction of Persons--the Father" who begets the Son, the Son who proceeds from,the Father,-and the Holy Spirit who proceeds from both the'Father and the Son--these three Persons all have tile same Divine Nature and are equally God. They are Perfect Unity. Christ based His prayer for unity on the oneness of the Father in Him, and of, Himself in the Father. And the Church Unity Octavel regardinff this:as the greatest motive for unity, has,adopted Christ's words as the antiphon to the petitio~n for unity: "That,they all may be one, even as :thou, Father; in'me and I in thee; that they also ma',~ be one in us, that the world may believe that thou" hast sent-me" (John 17, 21). , ./ust as God is one and all truth,is in Him, so truth is one, "Thi~ truth is centered in one authority, by which God has ordained that all men should come to Him. Ther~ i~ only one way that leads to Go'd, and that is the Church which Christ has set up to teach men the truth and to leadthem to their God-given destiny. If there were a multiplicity of ways, then there would be a multiplicityof yarying doctrines: and truth would be divided. This would be contrary to the unity of the Godhead and the unifying order of creation, It would mean that God is not one and that chaos would eventually reign. But the Triune God in His infinite wisdom has revealed to us how the m~ny may be one in their lives.and, moreover, how they must believe and work as one if they would become united with Him in His Godhead, not only in this life, but also in the world to come.~ Another motive for,unity is the King~l~ip of Jesus Christ. Our Lord was sent down upon the earth_, to set up a. kingdom in which all' men might' make their peace with His heavenly Father. By reason_of the Hypostatic'Union, whereby the humanity of Jesus is united to, His divinity, Jesus is the most excellent of the works of God and has .b~en given ~lominion over all creatures. AsKing bf heaven and earth, He has a right°to the service and obedience of all men. He has established" one rule, which all must'follow if they are to serve Him faithfully. This kingdom cannot be divided since it is most perfect. It has God for its author and for its ruler: and a visible authority has been appointed by the Divine King to rule in His name, to teach" His laws to all men, and to minister justice and peace by His powder. ~_ A powerful motive for.faithfully observing the Church Unity 51 ~'F/~THER BARTHOLOME'W Octave is that of atonement. By. the Fall o'f ~dam we xvere. separated from God a~ad deprivedt of everlasting hnioh with Him,. Reparati6n was n~eded in order to restore the supernatural, grace and gifts "that had been lost. The Son of God willed to come. down upon the earth to. make adequate atonement fo~ the infinite offense lagainst~His Father. And the effect of this~atonement was' unity. Atonement means "to make one." By His whole life and Lspecially by. the shedding of His Blood upon the Cross, Jesus reconciled us to His Father and made us one in Him. Thi~ motive should .appe~l" to religious~i.n a sp.ecial ~ay0 for their lives of prayer and self-denial offer them many opportunities for~.the practice of atonement. We have outlined some of the principhl motives., which should urg'e religious and others to 'obserVe the Church Unity Octave witl~ all possible fervor and devotion. Religious may co-operate in a sp cial way by instructing lay people--their pupils, their patients, and others with whom they come in contact teaching them the -meaning and the.purpose of the Octav~ and u~rging them to join wholeheartedly in .the work. But above ~all else religious should co-operate by .their pra$~er, for prayer is the primary means by which. the purpose of the Octave is to be attained. If daily ~hroughout the Octave all rehgmus spend some t~me praying for the part,cular reten-tion of the day., their prayers will not go unanswered. "In union there is strength." If all join together to petition for the fulfillment of Our Lord's own .prayer, "that all may be one." they may be sure/ that He .will be in the midst of them to hear and answer them. A striking example of Christ's readiness to respond to our peti-tions may be seen in the conversion of that small Anglican band of Franc.iscans founded by Father Phul James Francis. Less than two~ years after he had inaugurated the Chu~rchUhity Octave, Father Paul and his sixteen associates, comprising the Society ,of the Atonement, recognized t_he cla,ms of'the*successor of St. Peter, made their submis-sion to his autl~ority, and were received into the true fold. Similar if less striking answers to our own prayers may confi-dently be expected. ~Ignorance, here~sy, and schism will be dispelled in time and all men will become one in the love and service of God. And it is the duty of all, whether they already be. within the one'." true fold or outside it, by the love they bear for one another and by the uprightness of their lives, to hasten the d.aywhen there shall be "one fold and one shepherd." FATHER BARTHOLOMEW, S.A. 52 Our consfitu~fions prescribe a two-year nov;flare. OnE of our novices completed her canonical.year on December 8, 1945. Because of 'illness she missed 32 ~ays during her second y.ear novff;ate. Does she have to make up these 32 days before she ;s permiffed to take her f;;St vows, or m.ay she pronou~nce her first vows on December 8, 19467~ i " Whether absence from the novitiate during the second year must be. made UP or not will depend entirely u.pon the constitutions and the-will of superigrs~ The general law of the Churc~requi~ing that an absence of more than fifteen days must be made up, and that an a.blsence of more thai1 thirty days interrupts the novitiate so that it must be begun over again (canon 556) applies only to tile canonical or t~rst yea, r of novitiate. Hence your constitutions must be. con~- suited. If they say nothing on this subject, then the second year., of novitiate is not required for the validity of the~ subsequent profession ~(canon 5551 § 2), but.only for its licitness, and days df absence would not have to be made ,up, unless super!0rs think it well to require that this should be done . k4a~/a local superior who has served two ~erms.of ~hree years each and then was out of office for one term of three years be now a ppolnted ~s~ super;or of the same community in Which she already served for six years? ¯ ~Canoh 505 i~f' ~he Code of. Cation Law prescribes that "local superiors are not to hold office for more than,three years; on the i~xpi-ration, of thi~ ~rm they can be reappoin[ed ~o th~ Same office if the constitutions ~6ermi.t' it, but not immediatelyfor 'a third term in tl'i~. Sa~ne, religi~sus£h0use.'' From this textit is cl~r that ~o local sui~e~io/ may remain SUl3erior 0f the same religious house for more thim six Vears without ~ special permissibn of ~the Hdly See. Nextl~he word "immediately" must~be considered. It means ,the local superior'wh5 has served ,tWO terms must be removed from office in that community for the time being, but it does not forbid tile reappoin~ment of that superibr to the same community after the lapse of three years. Henc'e~ the answer (o our question is thi~t the local superior.who has served,, two terms of three.years each and then was ou~ of otfice for one term 53 QUESTIONS AND ANSV~ER~ Review [or Religious of three years may, now be appointed again ,asolocal superior of that s~a~e community. ,,~ ,. , " Do the delegates at a general c~hapter have the right and the .power o prescribe, that the piqus exhortatlon, of a,founder or foundress, which I~h~' nelth~er an ~rhpkima~tur nor an indulgence, be mad6 ? ~'art of the com- ~unity.prayers? ifis, nqtla prayer, but a pious.exhortatlon. Do not all prayers~sald in common call for the imprimatur of the lochl Ordinary? The general chapter in a religious c.ongregation has dominative power'over the members (canOn 501, § 1) and can, therefbie, issue 6rdinations or dtcrees which are binding upon all until revoked by a .ft;fure thapter. There seems to he no objection to the reading of a ¯ pt0us exhortation.by the founder or foundress du~ing the recitation 0.f tlde communit~r prayers,. While it istrue that canon 1259 requires the Ioc~il or~in~ary's approvai for prayers and pious exercises ~or us~ ~n churches and oratories, this is commonly ~interpreted to apply to /~ew prayers and devotions rather than' to prayers once apRro~red~ by any local ordinary, 6r to such as .haVe the equivalent approval of :i'oiig Usage. ~ " "" Furthermore, community prayers said in a convent ~chapel When ~hefaithful' are notpresent are not ~ubli~ but pri~ate pra~l~e~s, and therefore would nor come under the regu~lation .of canon' 1259: Hence the pious exhort~ition in question would not need an imprima-tur in order that it may be read during community prayer.s_ , Kindly ~explain what is meant by "spiritual-relationship" .and how it is determined. ~ : Spiritual relationship is a supernatural bond which arises from the 's.acramen_ts of baptism and.confirmation. ,It unites the person :baptized with the m~nister of baptism as well as with l~is sponsors ~(cahon' 76~), and the person confirmed with .hi~ sponsor only .(cangn 797). .This spiritual, bond imposes upon.sponsors the obli, .gation of having a perpetuai interest in their spiritual child (hence~ ~ the name "godfather"), and. of seeing to it that the childreceives~.~a proper Christian. education and lives up,to the promises they made in-his n~ame,during the baptismal ceremony (canons 769 and 797). -,While they should always retain an interest in, their spiritual child, sponsqrs should, not interfere in its Christian education as. long as the "Januarv, "1947 . QUESTIONS AND'ANSWERS parents' of the child are doing their duty. Because of this close spiritual union between sponsor, and child,. the Church has made this bond a diriment impediment to marriage, but only in the case' of spiritual relationship arising from baptism-". (canon 1079). Has the Holy See published, or in any other w.ay made known, an-official disapproval, of.th~ manner of assisting at Mass that is known as the Missa Recifafa? Father Bouscaren's Canon Law Di'~est, II (ed. 1943), pp. 198~ 200, gives five replies of the Congregation of-Rites concerning the Dialogue Mass. From these replies it .is clear that the Holy See wil'l: no~ tolerate some forms of the Dia.logue Mass. but that, with certain. r~strictions and under certain Conditions, individual bishops" and other local ordinaries may permit this form of piety in their ryspectik,¢ ter-ritories if they deem_it advisable. Though there appears to be some. difference of opinion concerning' the limitations, it seems to us tha~. they may be summarized as follows: 1. The faithful may. recite the server's responses'in union with-. the server; and the Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei with the priest. 2. The practice is to be allowed only to those who can carry it -on in ~an orderly ahd dignified manner. 3. It should not cause disturbance to ~.he celebrant or to other-priests celebrating in the church. Such are the limitations as we understand the matter. In prac'- rice, since those who ~ish to have the'Dial6gue 'Mass must get the. permission, of their own local ordinary, they should also have a clear understa.nding with him as to just what conditions {hey are to observe. A day student at one of bur colleges wishes to enter the novitiate-in time to receive the habit on July .IS. She will not finish her semester. studies' and examinations until the end' Of January( Would it be"permis-silble for her to.walt until after~the examinations and enter then, probably 0n.February 2? or may she enter on January 15, take up her resid.ence at the college until after the examinations, and then return to the,novitiate? ¯ Reliable commentators on the canons 6f the Code regarding reli, 55 -QbE~TISNS AND ANSWERS R~oieto Io[" Religious gious hold as probable th( opinion~ that if' the su~n ~of all absences from tile postulancy does not exceed fifteen days,, sfich absen~es-;:need n0t°be supplied provided the~e are good beasons for, them. Hence it- ~-ould ~eem better to have.th~ st.udentin.question go to the novitiat~ on January 15 to be admitted with her class, and then at the proper time return to the college to take her semester "examinations. She should go back to the novitiate as~soon as the examinations are oger. ~[~ @0uld ~unwise tO let her remain at the college for fifteen full days unl.ess, that is unav6idable. Later absences fr6m the postulancy may be necessary, and if the total absence exceeds, fifteen days, such days o~ al~s~nce should be made up before the p~stulant is. all6wed ~p~ receive the habit" and to begin her novitiate. The local superior of the mother.house died recently. Her term of offlceWould not have e~plred till the fall of 1948. May .a Sister be #ppolnted %fill out the unexpired term, or must the appolritment be for-three years? ¯ Canon 505 forbids local superiors to holdoffice for more than three years. It does'not forbid a te~m of less" than three years, ,althOugh that is the nobmal term. Hence, unless_the Constitutions require a full term of three years, a Sister may be appointed to fill out the ianexpired term of the deceased local superior. This would be rea~ sonhble in case it is customary to change all local superiorsat the sametime, but it should be made clear to the Siste~ appointed that she is merely to complete th~¯ unexpi.red term so that possible misunder-standings may be avoided later on. If ~t is not tustomary-to change all local¯ superiors at the same time, it would geem advisable to appoint the new superior for three years, unless special circumstances, make it advisable to appgint her for the unexpired term only. Flour for Altar Broads ' " In our September, 1946, number (Vol. V, p. 338), We gave the principles to be followed in getting flour for altar breads; and we" asked, if our readers could supply any information that might' help' in the actual app!ication of these principles, ~v*e have received, several ¯ infor'~native communications~ and we subjoin the: main points. -Needless to say, we are not a~tempting to give final directions in" this QUESTIONS_AND ANSWERS matter. Nor are we mentioning individual' dealers or brands of flour for the purpose of recommending one more than another. 1. A priest referred us to two articles published in The American Ecclesiastical Revtew. (Vol. 35, 1906, p. 579; and Vol. 73, 1925'; p. 397). These articles show the great difficulty of being assured of unadulterated wheaten flour when buying from commercial dealers, and they strongly recommend that those who make altar breads secure their flour from religious communities that make such flour. 2. A commun,ity of Sisters notified us that they had a chemist analyze the commercial flour they use for making altar breads, ~init the chemist pronounced it pure wheat. When we requested more-pa~ rticular information concerning this flour, the Sisters replied: "The flour we use is Pillsbury Best, or Pillsbury 4X, or Pillsbury AA Cake flour. All these are pure wheat. We do not use any family flour, as they Have vitamins added." - 3. Another community of Sisters sent an interesting communi-cation, the pertinent sections of which run as follows: "In answer to your request . . for information from youb readers who make altar breads, we are embodying in this letter an exact, copy of the statement received from our flo~r mill which describes very fully their method of insuring 100% pure. wheat~ flour: " 'It is quite evident that extreme caution must be exercised t6 insure an unadulterated 100% wheat flour. The first step, before milling starts, is to insure that all foreign seeds, dust, and other mat-ter be removed from the wheat before milling. Choice wheat is set aside, cleaned as it would be for milling ordinary flour, and' then sub-jected to an aspirator cleaning (air suction for removing dust and light foreign particles) plus an additional processing through another disc cleaned, and the mill thoroughl}; cleaned from grinding rolls on through the packing machineby. During the process of m.illing, all bleaching processes are tut oiat as are also the malt flour feeders. With these steps kaken, one can be positively certain that the final prod'uct is as pure and unadulterated as it is humanly possibl~ to make. With the grinding ot: flour automatic as it is, not even human hands come in contact with it." (Belgrade Flour Mill Co., Belgrade. Minnesota.) "The managers of this Milling Company are Catholic and trust-worth~,. They have assured us that they follow this procedure in .making Altar Bread flour for us." 4. We close these communications with ~in interesting NCWC 57 BOOK REVIEWS " , . ° Review for Religious" news,release that refers particularly, to the new "80-per-cent" flour: The news release was .clipped,from a diocesa_n paper and sent to us by 'one of-:our readers.Weoinclude only the'points that bear directly on the information we bare been geeking: " ~'T~oge Catholics who have fdlt a.nxiety and uncerfainty about the validi~y.,of '80-per-cent' flour if used in making hosts for Con-_ secration may cease to worry. ,So says the Rev. F~ancis, 3. Con-nell, C.SS.R., associate professor 0f moral theology at the Catholic University of America. "Father Connell~has learned from government officials that '80- per-cent' ~our~ is actually composed wholl~r of genuine wheat. The phrase merely, means that nowadays 80 per cent of.the bulk of the wheat u~ed for flour is°retained in the finished productl with 20 per cent becoming a b~y-prodia'ct. Formerly:pnly 72 per cent of the wheat was used for the flour's comp~0sition. The new flour contains a larger ¯ amount of the wheat berries' husk and is richer in food value, despite its darker hue. , "In_ addition, the fact that hosts made from the '80-per-cent' flour are a shade darker than those used heretofoie is no impediment to their~valid-and lawful use for the Holy Eucharist. " '~'Oh.the Otherliand, Fa~her.Connell declares,, an effort should be made to obtain for altar breads flour that has not been "enriched" .by' the inclusion" of small amounts of iron, calcium, and-barley flour. O.nly pure wheat and water are supposed to be use,d. 1.Difficulty' in ge.tting unenriched flour, however, allows perfectly lawful use of the ~-nriched variety." [NOTE: A somewhat similar statement by Father Connell may be found m The Ecclesiastical Review, CX (Feb., 1944), 145-46.] :Book Reviews A BEDSIDE BoOK OF SAINTS. By the Reve_rend Aloysh~s Roche. "Pp.,xl °'~ '-I-145. The Bruce Publlshin~ Cornpany~, Milwaukee, 1946.- $1.75. The title of this book hits off the book itself apt.ly eno.ugh. From the lives of saints, Father Roche has with remarkable industry pieced together al!. sorts of interesting items under'such headings.a~ "The Human Nature of the Saints,'~ ".The Common Sense of the Sain.ts," "The Wit and Humour of the Saints,'-' and st) on. The resulting book, 'in which, the material from the different saints', lives is spuzi~ 58 danuar~. 1947 BOOK REVIEWS .- out into a continuous narrative, isthe iort of fhing one welcomes. " for occasi0nal readiiag. It can be dipped into at any time, and even for:very short periods, with interest ,and satisfaction.' - -F~ither Roche emphasizes not onlywhat is interesting .about. saints but what is normal as well. It is characteristic of our'tim~s that we I/ave some sort of psychological need f6~ telling ou'rde!ves how normal the .saints are--they[re just like everybody- else--- although other ages .seem to have derived their chief satisfaction con-cerning the saints from noticing how different they are" from. ordina.ry persons. Of course the saints are both normal and different. Aware-ness of the normali,.ty which Father R6che stresses should not make the reader complacent--the saints were just like me, after alll so all right; but it shouldxshow~him tl4at the .world of thd saints'is not some sort o~ fairyland but quite like his own-~-a world not readily analyzed and e, asily fitted into little formula's, as the world in most ' biographies turns out to be, but a world concrete and mysterious, - often puzzling and confusing enough, a world with-a good many loose ends, so far as .we can see. This is the world we know, the , , world the saints knew, the world in whicl~ God dwells, the world in ~ which sanctity grows;. Tfiis book, now published for the first time in the United States, , was originally published in .England by Burns~ Oates, and Wash-bourne, Ltd., in 1934.W. 3. ONG, S.,J. EXTRAORDINARY LIFE OF MARIE LOUISE BRAULT. By Lohis hier, S:S. Tr~n~la÷ed from ÷he French by W. S. 'Reilly, S.S. Pi~. 306. The Newman"Bool~ Shop, Westmlnsfe~, Maryland;q946.$3.50'. Spiritual dividends and a good deal of amazement are in store for the'~readers" of Madaine Brault's definitely extraordinary life. we ~re ;iot ac~ust0fiaed to associate such, happeni_hgs .with the twentietfi tury; T~ Catholic~ ands, religious, who'like the Master are con~emned for their belief in the supernatural, such remarkable confirmati6n of all their cherished beliefs, brings welcome comfb-rt. But of even greate~ worth is the~in~pact of one's own. soul from meeting a personality " , like Madarhe Brault. Dutiful'wife, arid mother of eleven childrefi, heroically cbaritable to the'sick and suffering,, afire with zeal for.her neighbors' salvation and .the reliet:,of the ~so~ls in purgatory, she ~" responded to grace as the finely tuned instrument to the least touch of the Master, ,Her love for God and particularly, for the God-man makes the passion of earthly lover~ a'sorry rival, This .obscure 59 R~view ~or.Religious Canadian~woman, who died in' 1910, is referred to as a "star of the /~rst magnitude in the skT of mysticism." Her letters," which reveal the astonishing events of her inner life and which were written under obedience, are said to recall the &ritings ofoTeresa of Avilaoand Catharine of Siena. Where We only a~spire, Madame Brault .has accomplished: -Per-haps the m6st valuable part of this book is the second, in which eighty of her letters are repro'di~ced. There her personality is lumi-nousl~ r .portrayed. 'We see a very human, sensitive, affectionate soul, keenly'~susceptible to pain and humiliation, yet under the strong sup- 130rt of God's grace undergoing unbelievable suffering for her love: Apparently the greatest was the furious cruelty with which the dem6ns visibly afflicted her. They beat her like brutal thugs, flung h~'r.around even in the church of Pointe-Claire, and worked endless mischief within the wails of her home. They were also the agents of untold interior pain. An intimat~ friend of Madame Brault, Father Bouhier is cer-tainly .in possession of the facts. He has related them clearly and well: For making his sim, ply-told story available in English, we are g~eatly indebted to Father Reilly. There is perhaps too little artistry in the.composition. ~ind gt times a tendency so to stress_th~ superlative virttle of MadameBrauh that she seems not one: of our race. This impression, however, is removed by her letters. Her life merits further and more complete biographical presenta-tion. Particularly ~for religious and priests she has many definite messages, and we cannot help thinking that God wants us to know ,well this modern triumph'of His grace. R.D. HUBER,. S.J. LUMEN VITAE: International Review of Religious Education. Vol. I, No. I (January-March, 1946). Pp. 200. Centre International d'Etudes de la Formation Refigieuse, BrusSels. $4.00 per year; this issue, $1.00. ~The International Center for Studies~ in Religious Education launches herewith a challenging hi-lingual review addressed to all who are in any way interested ih religious education. The goal aimed, at is "tb take modern life as a starting point, and give a living religious training suitable to the contemporary, generation, so as to prepare it to fulfill its particular'mission." This envisages a twofold task. The one is to discover in contemporary society its particular mentality, or its "psychology," that may serve as a stepping-stone t6wards-Christ. The other is. thedirect j~b of imparting religious 60 ,lan~,ary, 1947 - ~ instruction at all levels in all milieu. ~BooK REVIEWS It is hoped to coordinaterill- ._ferent spheres of educatiori,' different academic levels; to infl'uence differing media of instruction and diversion. ' .Editorials will" be bi-lingual, French and English'throughout. " Erticles ih French will have an ~English summary; those in English, ~a suha.mary in F.r~ncb: "and articles in other languages will have both F~'e'nch and English resumes. ~Believing that Lumen Vitae will beof ,~iery special interest to hosts of religious teachers, we subjoin.a'survey bf its first issue. " , What precisely out of. all contained .in. seminary courses can.:b~ squeezed into college courses, and in what proportions? Msgr. J. M Cooper argues .for this division: Of the total content of class-hours, dogma should have 25 per cent, moral, 25 per cent, worship, 25 per cent, and the remaini,ng 25. per cent should be about ~evenly. divided among Scripture; apologetics; ritual, Church history/and ascetics. If this statement seems cut and dried, the article is not. woman'~ apprlo,ach to the same basic prdblem is mirrdred in Ma"~leleine Dani~lou's account of the courses.she h~s instituted in the Salute: Marie colleges in France. In instituting her .important work, she. was following ,the diredtion of FatherL. de Grandmai~on, whose :'large spirit lives on in it . , o .- "Catholics in German-speaking countries have been .grappling for - years, under the. heading-Of catechism revisiorl, with the deepyr. ~i.nd more importaht subject of ca.techism cdntent an,d .ar#a-ngement, So as to bring out .more clearly the essentially joyo

Issue 6.4 of the Review for Religious, 1947. ; JULY i5, 1947 Theolocji~ns and Mary's Assumption ¯ ¯ . ¯ .', Cyril VOl_lerf "Thou Sl~alt T~e Duty of Open My Lips" " ~Richard L. Rooney Hearlncj Mass .¯ . ". . Gerald Kelly Silence. C.A. Herbsf The Will ÷o Perfection . Augustine Klaas Book Reviews Communications Questions Answered Decisions of the Holy See VOLUME Vl NUMBER REVIEW FOR,, REL! IOUS VOLUME Vl JULY, 1947 NUMBER 4 CONTENTS THE THEOLOGIAN AND MARY'S ASSUMPTION~Cyril Vollert, S.J.~ .1,93 OUR CONTRIBUTORS . ' 202 "THOU SHALT OPEN MY LIPS"mRichard L. Rooney, S.J . 203 BROTHERS' VOCATIONS . 206 CONCERNING COMMUNICATIONS . , . 206 GENERAL ASPECTS~OF THE DUTY OF HEARING MASS-- Gerald Kelly, S.J. . .x, . 207 SILENCEmC. A.' HerbSt, S.2 . 217 COMMUNICATIONS .0. ! . 222 THE WILL TO PERFECTION--Augustine Klaas, S.J .227 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERSM " 16, "Tiny Particle" Falls on,Communicant, , .". . 239 17. Annual Vacation for Sisters . 239 18. Obligation of Superior and Subject when 'Change Seems Desirable ¯for Reasons of Conscience . : . 242 19.-Disposing of Amputated Limbs ' 247 20. Term of Office of Mother Superior .i. . - ., . 247 21. Informing Bishop of Confessor's Absence . 248 22. Application for Faculties for Retreat . 248 23. "Singular" or "Plural" in Prayers for Deceased Sister . 248 BOOK REVIEWS-- The Three Ages.of the Interior Life: Teresa, 2ohn, and Theresa: Reflec-tions on the Sunday Collects of the Roman Missal . 249 BOOK NOTICES . . 252 DECISIONS OF THE HOLY SEE . 254 THE WORKS OF ST. JOHN EUDES . 255 REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, Jul'y, 1947. Vol. VI, No. 4. ~ublished bi-monthly: January, March. May, .~uly, September, and November at the College Press, 606 Harrison Street, Topeka, Kansas, .by St. Mary's College, St. Marys,Kansas, ~ith ecclesiastical approbation. Entered as second class matter January 15, 1942; at the Post Office, Topeka, Kansas, under the act of March 3, 1879. Editorial Board: Adam C. Ellis, S.J., G. Augustine Ellard, S.J., Gerald Kelly, S~J. Editorial Secretary: Alfzed F. Schneider, S.J. , Copyright, 1947, by Adam C. Ellis. Permission is hereby granted for quotations of reasonable length, provided due credit be given this review and the autho£ Subscription~price: 2 dollars a year. Printed in U; S. A, Before writing to us, please consult notice oh Inside back cover. ¯ h oloc i n ary s:Assu .,- .,, ,- ~ 'o. ~ Cyril' Volleft, S:J. WHEN Christ °likened the kingdo~ of God to a graifi ~ o'f mustard, se~d -that eventually produces an. .~ ~mens~ tree, He was~undoubtedly foretelling the future,growthof ~His:.Church: The comparison, may algo serve to illhstrate the ever-increasing knowledge of divine revelation given to. the ~Church by Christ. Revelation,.as. Catholics well understand, came to an end with the death of the last apostle. But the rich treasure of divine truth was not fully grasped from,, the. beginning and is far. from being exhausti;cely~ comprehended today. This is the case espekially with those truths of faith that are not revealed in manifest terms but are couched obscurely in what is explicitly revealed~' With the aid of improved telescopes, astronomers are, constantly discovering "new" stars. The stars are not really new. They have been the~?e a long time. Only our knowledge ~of them is new,. In somewhat the sarfle~ way, ~';new~.- ~ truths' Of revelation: are proposed for belief'from time to time. SuCh truths ar~ not new: in. themselves;, they are only ne~ .to us. ~,They haYe been present in the deposit of ~evelation right aldrig; ~btit ,we get ¢o know some~ of them ofily by degrees as a, restilt, of theological' investigati6n~carried on ~for fnafiy ~centu~ries under the. guidance.of .the Holy Spirit, ~who ~i~ gradually leading 'the Church to ~ fuller understanding. of ~God's truth.,'., ', ¢ . oo~ ¯ ',- ,~,,'°° '~ That a truth may be believed with divifie faith; it need not, have alwa)is beefi,recogniked ,as distinctly revealed. striking iffstante: is .the Immaculate Conception,,,~ which iS CYRIL VOLLERT Review for Religious not expressly attested by ancient tradition and was not kriown:tb,be~ia re~e~led,:i~th until fairly modern tim~s. It was only ~n 1854 that Pius IX, exercising his full teaching authority, declared by an mfalhble, ex catbedra definition th~it thd do~trin~ of Our Lady's Immaculate Conception was revealed by God and that all the faithful must believe it. A' similak event may take place in our own day with regard to Ma~y's Assumption into heaven. Several dear signs point to this. One of them is the~ublication, in 1942, of a mammoth, two-voIume work, Petitiones de Assurnp-tione corporea B. ~. Mariae in coetum delinienda ad Sanc-tam Sedern delatae, by W. Hentrich and R. de Moos, S.J. These two scholars have brought~together and classified the hundieds of° thousands of petitions addressed to the Holy See sinc~ the time of thk Vatican ~Council all begging the Supreme ~Pontiff, to define that the doctrineof the Asstimp-tion. is a dogma of faith'. ~ Without°a very:speci~aI authoriza~ tion the compilers dould not haf, ehad a~c'ess to, the archives iSf the Holy'Office, where most of the documents they pub~ lish are eserved. .' ,; ~,o~ : .~,~ o~, o,~, . ~ Even more~sigfiifica~nt,is ~the~ letter Pope Pius XI,I.has written~'to~all the:,,bisholS~:~of the world~ inviting them~to send to, the~Holy,~See their ,view, si, and those of~,the fait~bful of~ their,~i:lioceses, regardinl~ the, ,Blessed .Virgin(s ~Assump~ tioh. The P6pe wishes~to-khow whether in the opinion, of the~bishops,the:.d0ctrine is capable of~ ,being~,~declared an article ~;of faith and whether~ such a ~,pronouncemei~t is desirdd.,~ E~cide'ntly:~the Holy Fatherc~aas t~ken: the, matter to heart ,a~d is serioi~sly enqisaging a~dogmatic'definitiori of this privilege of Mary's. Pius IX had acted in a similar way before-defiiaiiig the oImma~ulat~ ConcCption. :, ,, ~ " In2such, cases ,,bishops, who, are~ the~ 6fti~ial., teacheks'~of ~hti~t;s: truth~in,~o,their.6wn~odi6cese~s, 6rdinarily c6nlult :,194 .dul~l, 19'47 ~ MARY'S ASSUMP~ION theologians before gi~qr~g an. answer.° ~'The ~Clfiu'rch~, bf course, is iiifMlible v~hen it~ proclaims that i~,~'doctrine '~is an article of fairlY. But infallibility, though it is a'g.uar:inty of. preservat~on from error through ~h~ specia'l "fissistance Of the Holy Spirit',' ~is not a power of giving "f~rth new reve-lations. Therefore, when the question arises of'defining a truth.that may be'obscurely or implicitly revealed, l~ng ~nd careful study must precede to ascertain whether that-triath is actually ~ontained in the deposit of revelation. Is the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin such a truth?° Was it revealed by God, at least implicitly, .so that it may be imposed by the Ch~arch for the belief of the~ faithful, although is yet it has not been thus imposed? If a bishop of a diocese, before answering the Holy Father's letter, were to request a theologian to conduct an investigation into this matter, how would 'the theologian proceed? Theologians vary in knowledge and ability and also in their study habits and modes of thinking. ~ But perhaps most of them would set about their inquiry in more or less the way that is out' lined in this article . To make the ~matter clear, let us 4magine a theologian who has .never had occasion to make a detailed .study of the Assumption in his teaching or writing. He, is not a specialist on this subject. He is, however, fully capable of investigating the problem and has access to an adequate library. Beqirmino the Investiqar~or~ The first thing to do, he d~cides, is to acquaint himself with the present state of the question in theological discus-sion. He has known since his childhood that the Assump-tion has some connection with the Catholic religion, for it., is ndmbered among*the mysteries of the Rosary and is cele-brated with more.than ord.inary liturgical ceremony, on the CYRIL VOLLERT Reoiew for Religious 15th of August, as a holy day of obligation. ~ But just what is the relation of Mary's Assumption to Catholic faith? An obvious way to begin the research is to consult some of the more recent theologicaI manuals or textbooks which the inquirer has in his library. These will indicate the sources of knowledge about the Assumption and will refer to important monographs and to major articles in periodicals. As soon as he starts looking into theological journals of the past several years he will discover a book that is hailed as the greatest work ever written on the Assumption, ,Martin Jugie's La mort et l'assomption de la sainte Viecge, published in 1944. He will find that this book lists nearly every item of testimony on the Assumption_ know to schol-arship. Every text from Sacred Scripture that might have some bearing on the question, every reference in the ancient Fathers of the Church, and many of the most important statements of the great theologians are reviewed and sub-ijected to criticism. With this volume as a guide, the inves-tigator may set to work. To avoid the danger of ov.erlooking some sources, a theologian .would utilize many of the other specialized studies, which abound in our day. Examples are. C. Balic, O~F.M., "De definibilitate assumptionis B. 'Virginis Mariae in caelum,"Antonianurn (1946), 3-67,and O. Faller, S.J., De priorum saeculorum silentio circa Assumptionem B. Mariae Virginis, Rome, 1946. A detail thfit would have to be present to the mind of the theologian inquiring into this doctrine concerns .the very meaning of the Assumption as understood by the Church. Ordinarily, Catholics take it for granted that Mary died, so as tb resemble her divine Son even in His death, and that shortly 'thereafter she whs raised from the dead by divine power and transferred, as a complete person with glorified 196 Jul~l, 1947 MARY'S ASSUMPTION body~dnd,sou~l, to the eternal ,beatitude of heaven. That this~rv, i~w is traditional, dating back at least ~to thUsixth century, cannot be doubted. Nevertheless *Jugie thinks that the question-of Mary's death~ is not established with certainty. ~rhat has to be affirmed; he says, is that, if Mary died,:h~r body was preserved from corruption and then was raised tO glorious life. The essential thing is her p~ivilege that goes under the name of Assumption, namely, her living presence ir~ heaven with body and Soul after her departure from this earth. Jugie does not assert that Mary did not die; but he declares that the'matter is doubtful and that the question of death is separable from the question of a'ssumpti~on. In ~other words, she may have been taken up to heaven, bodyand soul, without dying. He believes tha~ the Church could define the Assumption w~thout com-mitting itself on Mary's death. In h~s examination of sources, a theologian would have to watch for evidence on th~s point. Present Mind of the Church on the Assumption The results of the questionnaire sent by Plus XII to the bishops are not 'yet available. However the study ,of the petitionisk movement from 1869 to 1941 made by Fathers Hentrich and de Moos presents an imposing tabulation of views on Mary's Assumption Petitions favoring a dogmatic definition were sent in by 113 cardinals, by over 3,000 archbishops, bishops, and other prelates, by many theological faculties, by 32,000 priests and religious men, by 50,000 religious women, and by'over 8,000,000 of the laity. Most impressive is the number of petitions ~addressed to the Holy See by bishops. They ~epresent some 73 per cent of the dioceses of 'the world, and of these almost 97 per cent request the definition of the Assumption as an article of faith. 197 CYRIL VOLLERT " Re~ieto [or'Rellglo.u.~ .:r. The rfact~that s0me~2:7~.iper~ ~ent of the dig.ce~s~e~. ~re~!.~o~t ihclhded in these figur~s~do~s not mean that their b, iskdps d6 nbt favor the definitibh. ~e~must. remember that the bishops had'not been o~ially asked to submit their views: the petitions were Sent to Rome as a resul~ ofspon~ngo~ desires for the solemn .definition of the Assumption or in c0ns~quen~e of movements privately inaugurated. The .theologian who reflects on these petitions will be aware that they constitute a strong argument in favor of the tenet that the Assumption is a revealed truth. They show that the Church spread throughout the world firmly holds the doctrine; and the whole Church cannot err in matters pertaining to faith. ~The living .~presence of,~ the Blessed Virgin in heaven with gloried body and soul is not a truth that can be known by natural means; the only way it can come to our knowledge is thorough divine reve, lation. ~- Henc~ the ~Ch~rch must have, drawn, it:,f~o~ Sacred Scripture or from a perpetual tradition or frgm;;both these sou~es.~ ~ Witness of the _~i~urgg., ~,,~,., ~ ,.~ One.of the, most~tellin~ items of testimony to ,the, ex.istz ~nce of an~ ancient :tradition 0n the .Assumption is,:the fae~ "that it,has,.been solemnly; ~elebrat~d int~e~ Church ~0e m~n~ centuries. The beginning off,this .annual~cele~ration~,~canr not be.determined;,~,I~, t~e eighth cg~u~y~the !itu~gic~l fes- ;tival ~as" tefer~ed~t~ .by Saints ~obn .Damascene and :~Anz dre~ of Crete~s .ancient. Toward the end ~of~ the sixth Century- the Assumption,: under the~ name of the" Dormitio> ~e~th~ ','gbing to~sl~eff,''' of t~e ~,Blessed, Virgin, ~as assigned to~ Au~st~ 1.~5.th by~ ~a, decree" of, t~ Emp~ror,~Mauri~e~ for celebration, t~rougb6ut .the~ Byzantine Empire., ~ The e~z" peror~di~ not,~of; course, in~gurate~ the ~f~a~t~ but m~rely settled the day for its~obser~a~ce:. ~,~. ~.;. :~ ~,, : -~,~, ~. ~ ~,~ .i98 July. 19~ 7 . MARY'S ASSUMETION, - ~'~ A,?fragment ~of ~a S~riane,~b6~k, ~lating~.~fr&m,the ~fiftl~ ¢@ntur¥;,~)n~,the trar2si~.or transferenc~ of Our I~ad¥ from earth to heaven clearly supposes belief in the.Assumpti6n, of th~Ble~sed:,Virg~n into .heaven with;bodyi~and soul~ 'fol-lo~ vmg-her death. Several other'references to a liturgical ~elebratic~n'~of the '~'M@mory-of the~ Blessed Virgin," apparen'~ly~ commen~orating her death°~nd resurrect~on~ may carry down into the end of the fourth°century. How.-~ ev~r,~scholafs are not iri" complete agreement on theib inter~ pretation. At any rate, .the liturgical celebration of the Assump- .tion, which beg~n !n the ~East, soon made~ its way into Gaul and Spain, and in ~50 was introduced ifi Rome. The Testimony of Tradition The theologian who undertal~es t.o study the sources of our knowledge concernin.g Mary's Assumption, will have to devote most of his time and gnergies to. a direct examina-tion., of tradition. At the end of,his lengthy researches" he will find that his conclusions may:be s.ummarized some .w.hat as follows, During the earliest ages, up to about the fifth century, definite references to,the Assumption are rare. The truth is .hidden and awaits the theological .~enetratiOn of future generations f0r-its 0unfol4ing.~ t~eginning with the sixth century explicit statements a.ppear; by the following century the Assumption is attested throughout the East and the West, The great Fathers. and .theologians _of this period, such as St. Germain of Constantinople, St. Andrew~ of Crete, and St. John Damasdene, a~rm the.Assump.tion serenely and'without,hesitation or extenuation. Th~ way they express themselves shows that they are not deffending a thesis opposed by adversaries but are discoursing on a truth admittedby all their hearers and. readers. The eminent Scholastics~ of the Middle Ages, St. Bernard, ~199 CYRIL VOLLERT Reolew for Relig[ou~ St.:i~lbert.the.Great, St. Thomas, St. Bonaver~ture,.'Scotus, and others teach ~the doctrine of the.Assumption with absolute confidence. From the sixteenth century on, the fact of the. Assump-tion is universally held; theologians are concerned only with the question of determining its degree of certitude and its connection with revelation. Finally, during the nine-teenth and twentieth centuries, the conviction has gained ground that the Assumption is actually a revealed truth capable of being defined as an article of faith. The silence of the early centuries is not nearly as deep as was forrfierly thought. Recent studies, especially that of Fa!ler, have brought out the full meaning of declarations made by two fourth-century writers, Timothy, a priest of Jerusalem, and St. Epiphanius, bishop of Salamis in Cyprus. Moreover, that silence is not extraordinary but is rather to be expected; the theolqgical writings of the early Fathers were almost wholly "devoted to explaining and d~fending the truths~of the Trinity and of-the God-man in an.environment.of heretical 'attack. -Inquirg into:Scripture . After Christ's Ascension into heaven, Scripl~ure relates ¯ that His Mother, the apostles, and~isome of the holy ~c~men were present in an upper room "persevering with bne mind in prayer" (Acts 1.: 13 f.). The New Testament gives us no information about Mary's remaining years on earth or her death, and tells us nothing directly' of her Assumption. ' " ~" ~ Nevertheless, we. may not asse'rt outright th~it the Bible is Silent about the Assumption. Most theologians and scripture,scholars see a solid theological argument in the woids spoken by God to the devil in Genesis 3 : 15 : " I will put enmities between thee and the woman,, and thy seed hnd 200 July, 1947 MARY'S ASSUMPTION her seed;, she shall crush thy head." According to the tra-ditional interpretation of this text, Mary, who is at least typified by the "woman" if she is not directly meant, is associated with Christ in His victory over Satan. Since Christ's victory includes His triumph over death, Mary's identical victory must include a similar conquest of death. Christ died, rose from the tomb, and ascended gloriously into heaven; the parallel between the Savior and His Mother requires a like climax to her earthly life. Furthermore the Blessed Virgin, who was "full of grace" and "blessed among women," was exempt from the universal law of original sin and escaped the doom decreed against Eve and her daughters in Genesis 3:16 about the pains of childbirth. The inference suggests itself that Mary was likewise exempt from the dread punishment: "Dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt return." That is, although Mary was apparently to die so as to be conformed to her divine Son in His death, she was never to be sub-jected to the corruption of the grave. Thus Mary's Assumption would crown her other privileges, which are definitely dogmas of faith: her divine maternity, her immaculate conception, and her perpetual virginity. This last, especially, seems to indicate God's will that she should forever be preserved from bodily cor-ruption of any sort. As the insight which theologians gradually gain into the truths of revelation becomes keener, . they are seeing more and more clearly that the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin may well be implicitly contained in those, three glorious dogmas. Conclusion When the investigator eventually reaches the ~nd of his prolonged researches, he will ma.rvel at the d~velopment of the doctrine of the Assumption--a development not of 20i CYRIL VOLLERT the truth ~tsdf but of the understanding of the truth. The general outline sketched in this article, confined as it is to generalities imposed by brevity, can give no hint of the cumulative effect of the detailed evidence amassed century after century. Moreover, no theologian has ever denied the Assumption. A few minor voices have occasionally been raised in doubt; but though they are off key, they are too feeble to mar the splendid symphony of universal tradition. At the time of the Vatican Council, some two hundred of the attending bishops and theologians signed a docu-ment which, in part, was phrased as follows: Most ancient and constant is the conviction 9f the pastor.s and faithful of the Church in the East ~nd the West concerning the bodily Assumption of God's Mother. This fact, that a person's body is alive in heaven prior to the final day of judgment, cannot be perceived by the senses or be attested by human authority . Unless, therefore, the tenacious faith of the Church re~gaiding the bodily Assumption: of ~the Blessed Virgin Mary is to be dismissed as unfounded credulity--the very thought is impious--we must un-questionably hold, with utmost firmness, thai it derives from divine-apostolic tradition, that is, from rdvelation. In the seventy-five years that have elapsed Siiace this i~mphatic declaration, the persuasion of the Church's ~eachers and taught has been. grgwing steadily stronger. If bur ~theologian r~orts to his bishop that, in his view, the dbctrine of the 'Assumption is ripe for defifiition as an article of faith, his vote will accord with the verdict already turned in by a vast majority. OUR CONTRIBUTORS RICHARD L. ROONEY is Editor of Queen's Work publications. C. A. HERBST, ~UGUSTINE KLAA$, GERALD KELLY, and CYRIL VOLLERT are members of the FacultF of St. Maryrs College, St, Marys0 Kansas. ~ 202 -=nou Shalt: Open. My LIpS,,,"~ °" ~ ~° Richard L.~Rooney, "]"HE Aperi having been said,arid the Our Father, Hail /1: " MarY, and C~eed h~ving0 been devouilypra ed, the ~ Divine'Office again picks Up the ideas of that .intro-ductory prfiyer.~ There we. petitioned~' now we state con'- fidehtly: Thou shatt open m~/ lips; OLbrd, And m~/ mouth shall annou'nc~ Th~/ praiset. Because it is so contrary t~; our own Us~al etti£ient~;~ ind~ependent American way of thinking and doing even in our prayer life, it is well. for us to recall again a basic idea of the Aperi. We cannot, remember, so much as think of thinking to pray unless.God gives.us the initial impulse to call on His name. We cannot so much as open these lips of ours, so.busy, with their worldly speaking, so slow to pray; unless God Himself opefis them for us. It is amazing that. we forget so easily how utterly, helpless we are~ in ~the realm of God and grace if we are left to' ourselves. On thd other hand, I wonder if we ever pause to think how eager, God toopen ,our lips that.,He ,may hear them. hymning His praises. . ~ ~ . If we realized the first of these facts, we. would utter often the verses we are considering here.~ We would not rush into prayer without preparing our souls. If we rea!iz3d,the .second, we would be alert at all times and in all places to God's impulses to pray, to lift our. minds a~nd hearts in canticles of.praise of Him. How well w~,,wguld d~on tthoe m weamy otori Mzea t~hse~sse, bveefrosre.se! ~Hoourw.: ~wreegllu w!aer" c soeut lpdr au.syee ~thrse,m ~alking ,or riding, or whiling the tim~eo.away waiting for a 203 RICHARD L. ROONEY Rev~eu~ [oroReligious bus, or in a doctor's office, or before dropping off to sleep! We co~Id'~profitably'make them the'object of our moments, of mental prayer also. Pondering over them slowly, we might reflect as follows:° "Thou, 0 Lord" God is the Lord and Master of all things. He brought them all out of nothingness. It is He who has given me these lips, and He wh6 must give me the power to open them. in His praise. He is my God; and of Him I can state this simple, tremendous fact: that He will open my lips, will give me the .grace to spiak t,o Him, will prompt me to speak about.Him, will allow me to hymn His praises. Hence I say, "Thou shalt" open my llps" He will open these lips from which so many millions of words have come, these lips which have been worldly, pro-fane, unkind, ~untruthful, mean, sullied.° He will open these lips that have uttered so much nonsense, from which bare tumbled so many idle words---:qips that were given me for praising Him, but which have been so often used to~sin' against Him. These are the lips which now at last He, is going to open and to make fulfill their d~stiny: the praise of Himself. ¯ ,, What joy is mine--that for this time of prayer at least, my lips will be healed, cleansed, and set to work to do the most, ~the best they can do, .They will be busy, not with vanity, but with God. "And my mou+h shall announce Thy praise" When I open my mouth it is likely togive out anything but the praise of God. From it issue forth bits of news, pfoclamfitions of self-praise, my more-than-half-share of c6nversations about all sorts of things, long and stupid tirades, long and often ~stupid lectures aad advi~e. "Forbid-den words come out,~ too: vulgar, worldly, idle, harsh, 204 July, 1947 "THOU SHALT OPEN MY LIPS" discouraging, sarcastic words. Charity is killed; characters are torn~ Help and harm,, all heedlessly-~'intermingled,.c0me pouring out. ~ But when God opens my lips, my tongue will speak as He would.have it; my tongue will speak His praise~' my tongue~ will speak His praise even as did the tongues of Moses, of David, of the prophets; my tongue will speak today as it will speak in heaven announcing, singing, crying out, that God and men may hear the praise, i'n~ praise, of the Most High God! When I ~raise a good man sincerely, my tongue is at its best use on a human level. When I praise the good God, my tongue is being used at its best on a divinely hum,an plane. How seldom my mouth announces any praise, save of myself. I speak of others, either not at all or with cold indifference, bitter criticism, mild interest, jealousy. Now and again, if it serves rn~/ interest,'I praise another. Less often still do I praise God without any trace of selfishness. I ~speak to Him or of Him in tedium, carelessly, liitlessly; in petition, asking mostly for something I want, only occa-sionally for others. But how infrequently do I burst out with praise just to tell Him how wonderful He is! 'Why is this? Praise is the outward speaking of an inward recogni-tion' of the value, the excellence of someone or something. Instinctively on seeing a beautiful sunset or a beautiful per-son we cry, "How beautiful!" Why do we so seldom deliberately praise God or men? Because we are too busy to look at them, too distorted in vision to see all that is good, true, and beautiful either in the All-High God or in the lowly creature, man. When we state that God will open our lips, we are also implicitly stating that He will open oui eyes. We are 2O5 RICHARD L. ROONEY , implicitly saying ,,that Hd will "let .us see Him, His power; His beauty,'His mercy: His lb~e, everywhere, and in .every: thing, so that we shall gladly cry out His praise:i implicitly hope that He will reveal HihYself,.yet more ~o us so that we may begin here the praise that we shrill announce forever in heaven, We are hoping that He will train:our lips to speak.now as they shall when He grants ~.us the face-to- face visioh of Himself, and we shall cry in ecst~isy: "Holy! Holy! Holy! Lord God of Hosts! °The heavens and the earth are full of Thy Glory!" ~ * * * Ves, Lord;Thou shalt open my lips here now, and tl~rd then; and My modth, frded from its habit of self~ interested prayer, shall announce joyously, contin,uall~r~ ~ti~relessly; endlessl~, its praise of Thee, our Go'd!" BROTHERS~ VOCATIONS " There are m':~'ny vocational needs* in~he ChurCh, bti~ pe~rhaEs none as more pressing:than,the need ,for la)~ Brothers. The' assistance'thi:y lend to priest~ who are more directly engaged i~ apostolic labors is~of inestimable value: To egcourage Brothers vocattons, the Soctety of the D,wne Word is Mow publishing aK~httra&ive and informative ~booklet ~entitled ~The M~ssionarg Brother. ~C0ptes of t~e 'booklet can be,obtained from the Novice Master, St. ,Mary's Mission House, Techny. ill~nbis.'~.~ ~ ~ :~ ~ ,~-" ,~. . ~ . ~,, Another i~ter~sting folder on~ the life of a Brother can be :~btained~fro~ the Missionary Servants of the'Most Holy Trinity, Box 30. Silver Sp~ngs. Maryland. This booklet is entitled Spotlight on the Missionary Brotber~" " A. third '~ffective folder 0n this 'same iub~ect is entitled "Behidd the~ S~enes at Notre Dame: The Part of the La~ Brother~ of the Hol~ Cro~#. ~ The, Congregation of"the H~'~Cro~S ~w ~'tWO p;o~ifi~S in- [he United' State~ [he province Priests~and'~the~province of Brothers~ This:folder describes the Brotheri' life. '.It may be obtained from the Reverend Oohn H. Wilson, C.S.C:; Holy Cross Seminary. Ndre Dame, ~ndiana. ' CONCERNIN~ CoMMUNICAtIONS" " ~ The next number "of t~e REVIEW will contain a digest 0f the communications on praydr that hhve note, get been published. ,With~hat; number we shall close the communications on the subject. Communications on other subjects that are of ~n~d~asfti ~. H.elp'r ~ ~o '~religi0hs" are alwhgs~elc~me. , Some of~the c0mmdnications 'on prgyer have been.ratherflong: and the ~itors would appreciate it if those who, send communications would., make them brief and pointed. -It also'helps if'the manuscript ~s typed and double'spaced; 206 ~enera[ Aspects oF ¯ Duty of I-learin9 Mass ~erald Kdly, $.~T. ONLY three of the ~414 cai~ons of the Codeof Canon Law deal explicitly with the° general! law of assisting at Mass. Canon ~1247 lists.the feasts of ~ obligation in the universal Ghurch; canon 1248 prescribes that:.Mass must be heard on these days;0and canon 1249 enumerates the places in wl6ich the faithful may fulfill this obligation.,. Three other ,canons (1244-46)'~1a~ down certain general, rulks :that are applicable not only°to feast days but also to days of fast and abstinence. Pbobably no other law of the Church is as import~int for the ordinary Catholic as this precept of hearing Mass. Every question pertaining to its correct observance is of unFcersal interest; and some of the questions are extremely provocative, not to say irritating, because of the difficulty in"solving them satisfactorily. These intriguing problems are foundiander all the various aspects of the law--general aspects,° the manner of fulfilling the law, and .reasons excusing~from the obligation. Since it w6uld be-impossible t6 treat all these points in a single article in the REVIEW, I am .limiting the present article to a consideration of those points usually explained by moral theologians when they treat of the'general aspects of the law of feast-day obserw ance. The article will deal with all the questions ordinarily discussed under this head, and it "will .lay,, special stress~ on the points that are apt to present sp~ecial difficulties for catechists It helps much to the ,proper understanding and appli= cation~ of°a law to know its origin, ;namely whether it is 207 GERALD KELLY Review/:or Religious divine or human; for different rules of interpretation apply to each. With'regar~l .to th~ duty of feast-day observance a consideration of both kinds of laws is pertinent; and great confusion can result from a failure to make. clear distinc-tions. Not a Dioine Law The divine law, according to accepted terminology, is either natural or positioe. By natural law is meant the law of God as manifested in human nature itself--"written in the human heart," as the saying goes. Granted appro-priate conditions, men with sufficiently 'developed mental powers could know this law, ~it least as regards its main points, just by using their reason--that is, by considering the fundamental relationships existing between man and G6d and between man and his fellowmen, and by drawing logical conclusions from these. This natural law, since it flows from human nature itself, binds all menat all times. The divine positive law includes duties imposed by God through the medium of revelation. In making such reve-lation God 'might merely confirm the already-existing iaatural law, as He does, for example, in the. First Com-mandment of the Decalogue; or He might, add obligations not already contained in the natural law, as He does in pre-icribing the confession of all mortal sins committed after baptism. LUnlike the naturallaw, the divine positive law cannotobe k.nown merely by reason;faith is required. Also unlike the natural law, the divine positive law is not neces-sarily for all men at all times; but such conditions depend entirely on God's own will., in giving these commands. In general, the Church's power concerning law~ is twofold. She can otticially interpret the divine law, as she has done with regard to such things as artificial birth con-t~ ol, divorce, mutilation of the "unfit," and so forth. In 208 Jul~t~ 1947 THE DUTY OF HEARING MASS such cases the' bindihg force of the law is not from tl~e Church but: directly from God. BUt the: Church can also mate laws in the proper and full sense of the:term. ~Thesd laws, made by the Church, are called ecclesiastical 1~iws. They,are human taws, not divirle; and they are to be 'inter-preted ~according to the rules that pertain ~to human l~ws, Applying this discussion of th~ various types of laws to the matter of feast-day worship, the following obierva-tions are in order, o Since men are social beings and since they depend on God not merely as individuals but as a group, the law of nature itself demands that they render to God some kind of social worship. But this law of nature is very vague, It does not prescribe certain days for such worship; it does not clearly indicate how often the worshi~ should be offered; and it does not tell us categorically what religious acts should characterize our social worship, although it cer-tainly seems appropriate that: sacrifice should be one of the community tributes to God.~ From the very nature of the case there is need of some more accurate determination of these points if men are to act in harmony, and obviously this more accurate determination should be made by the existing religious authority. In the Old Testament God Himself sanctioned the religious observance of the Sabbath and of certain special feast days. It is well to note here a great difference between the Third Commandment of the Decalogue and the other nine. The entire Decalogue is revealed; and in this sense all the precepts belong to the divine positive law. In the Third Commandment, however, God went beyond the natural'law, whereas in the other nine Commandments He simply confirmed and stated clearly certain duties "that already existed by reason of the natural law. The Third C0mmaildment; therefore, in its prescriptions concerning 209 GERALD KELLY ~- , Review [or Religio.us the frequency of worship (once a week) and ,the exact day for worship ,(the,Sabba'th)o is entirely divihe positive law, given by God,to' the chosen people and obliging them until. such time as He, would withdraw or change it. Did God withdraw these positive precepts with the promulgation,,of the New Testament? With regard to the special feasts~prescribed for the Jews there is :no difficulty: the duty of observing them certainly ceased; in fact, it Would be a form of superstition to observe them today. But with regard, to the weekly observance there is some obscurity even in theological literature. One view is that the divine law of sanctifying every seventh day.remained in force and that God Himself transferred the obligation from Saturday to Sunday. This opinion has but slight authority to uphold it, and we may safely call it improb-al~ le. Acco[ding, to a second opinion the divine law ,of sanc-tifying one day out of seven remained in existence, but the specification of the Sabbath day was simply withdrawn, and in its place not God, but the Church, assigned Sunday as the day for worship. This view has much more authority than the firsf; yet it is far from being, a common opinion. A third explanation, sponsored by the majority of eminent theologians, is .that with° the promulgation of the NeW Testament God simply withdrew the positive pre-cepts contained ,in the Third Commahdment anti" left it to the Church tO make appropriate legislation. According to this view,, the precept of hearing Mass, as we now have it, is a merely ecclesiastical law in all its particular aspects-- the frequency~ .the exact days, the method of worship. This last is by far the best opinion and the only~ofie that seems in~, perfect'harmony with.the mind of "the Church as expressed in. the~ ~ode:. ~ For the Holy :See claims~ f6r itself~the duly; 1947. THE DUTY OF: HEARING MASS' p0wer.tb 'constitu~e, transfer," and abblish these feast :days. and to dispe'nse~,from their, o.bservance ;(c.f. cations 1244-" 45) : It could not do this ina matter of~divine law. ~, . ~,~ It seems khat .in ~the.early. cefituries,of~ Christiani.t~r thdre~ was. no general l~gislation cbncerning the observanc~ of feast~ days~ : Rather, the faithful, themselves spontaneously' assumed~certainpractices, and thdse practices ~raduaHy acquired ~he force bf law and were'confirmed and crystal-lized by written'~legislation. Sunday was chosen as the. Lord's day, principally because it was the day of the Resur, rection and of ~the coming of the. Holy Ghost. Gradually other special, festivals came to be observed to commemorate special blessings, to recall the victories of the saints, and so forth. In fact, the tendency to add feast days of obliga-tion was so common that much bf the Church's legislation in recent times has been to restrict the obligation lather than to add to it. A ,catalogue of feasts of 6bligation in ~:he univer~gl Church in the time of Pope Urban. VIII, in 1642, lists thirty-five such feasts; b~sides Sundays. Today v~e have' only ten special feasts of' precept! for the" universal Church: Irnmaculai~e CodcelStidn,"~ Christrnds~ Ci~cum, cisi~n, Epip'hany,'St. Joseph; Asc~hsion Thursd~'~, Corpui Christi: Sts. Peter and Paul, Assumption, and All Saints. ° F6r some~cbuntries"the Holy See has ri~duced the number: f6r. exhmple,'in"~he United°State~ g'e a~e obliged to observe onI~r the six itMicized feasts. ' ~ I have gone to ~some length ifi-consiii~i~g the origin bf the precept of .hearing Mass because ~I think ~that :the ordinary way of~explaining the: matter in catechisms and even in moral treatises tei~ds to be~,misleadihg~,, .T, he duty of hearing Mass is" almost invariably~explhined iia~ connec-tion with~the Third Commandment of"the D~calogue; and this leads readily to the.inference that;~like~:the~othero pre-cepts of the~,D&~logue; it is'a divine" hlW,, ~wo serious 211 GERALD KELLY Review for Religious errors are occasioned by this inference. People of lax con~ sdences and weak faith, seeing that the Church can change this precept of feast-day observance, easily conclude that the other Commandments can be changed too and that it will ¯ not be long before the Church mitigates her rigid stand on such things as therapeutic abortion and artificial birth con-trol. These people confuse the human with the divine by reducing the divine to a human level. On the other hand, genuinely conscientious people raise the human to the divine. Finding the law of feast-day observance explained under the Third Commandment, they infer that it is a divine law and thus form exaggerated ideas of its binding A Serious Obligation ~ A young man once came to me with the following difficulty: ~"Father, a group of us werediscussing these laws like going to Mass on Sundays and fasting and abstaining, and we came to a dead stop over the idea ~that breaking .these laws is a mortal sin. You go to hell for a mortal sin, you know. We couldn't figure out why the Church should be so strict about these things; so we decided to ask So-and-So.: He just brushed us aside. He said all we had to do was to keep ~the laws; we needn't worry about the wbgs and the wherefores. It isn't wrong to want to l(now such thin~s, is it? We're not rebelling against the Church; we'd just like to know why she does this." The answer to the young man's question is obvious. It is highly desirable that adult Catholics should know the whg of their obligations. Itincreases their own apprecia-tion of the laws that govern them and enables them to explain them reasonably to others. Ecclesiastical laws are not made arbitrarily; we are 212 July, 1947 THE DUTY OF HEARING MASS not commanded to do certain things under pain of mortal sin merely because some Pope wants to sat.isfy a personal whim. These laws are formed according to certain eminently reasonable principles. For instance, a serious obligation is not usually imposed on the faithful in general unless-these three conditions are verified: (1) there is ques-tion of attaining some very important purpose; (2) the thing commanded is either necessary or highly useful for attaining this purpose; (3) the thing commanded would very likely not be done by the majority of people (the ordinary people, not the saints) unless they were obliged under pain of mortal sin. It is not difficult to see how these conditions are verified with regard to the precept of hearing Mass. (1) The principal purpose of the law is to see that the members of the true Church of God render fitting social worship to God. That this is a purpose of the highest importance seems evident. Moreover, a secondary but very significant purpose of the law is the spiritual good of the worshippers themselves. (2) That the sanctification of one day a week and of certain feast days is eminently useful, if not neces-sary, for attaining these purposes is clear from the fact that God Himself made similar prescriptions in the Old Testa-ment. As for the secondary purpose, in particular, experi-ence confirms the fact that those who do not set aside some time for the worship of God readily fall into temptation and sin. And with regard to the method prescribed by the Church, namely, the Mass--surely no one who realizes the meaning of the Mass will question the fact that it is the best possible expression of social worship. (3) Finally, it is ¯ not hard to imagine how empty our churches would become if this were not.a serious obligation. The Church makes her laws for the ordinary peo~01e, not the saints; and it is simply a fact that most ordinary people are not sufficiently 213 GEI~ALD'KELLY moved by the thoi~ght of "venihl sin" or "counsel" to make the sacrifices ~iecessary for assisting at Mass on ther, days assigned. o Who Must Hear Mass? To be obliged by this law one must (a) be baptized, (b) have completed his seventh year, and (c) have attained the use of reason. All three conditions .must be verified. The Church claims no power to legislate for the unbaptized except indirectly, for example, in the case of a marriage between a baptized and an unbaptized person. The com-. pletion of the seventh year is normally required for subjec-tion to an ecclesiastical law unless the law makes some other express provision. For example, the law of fasting does not bind one until one has completed the twenty-first year; on the other hand, yearly confession and Communion can be obligatory before the age of s~even. "In the present law no special provision is made; hence children under seven, even though quite precocious, are not obliged to hear Mass on Sundays,and holydays.~ It. is praiseworthy to accustom them to attend Mass at an earlier.age; but it is .not obligatory, Finally, even those who .are baptized and are seven years old are not obliged ,to hear Ma~ss if they have not yet attained the use of. reason. The normal .presumption is that those who have completed their ~sevent.h year have sufficient use of reason; but this presumption admit~ of exceptions. However, the mere fact that a child is. "back-ward" is not necessarily a sign that he does not have the use of reason. The ultimate test is his appreciation of :moral right and wrong. , A question of some delicacy in this matter concerns baptized non-Catholics. Strictly speaking, since they are bapt!zedl they are subject to.the laws of the Church unless the Church herself exempts them. Theoretically~, there- July, 1947- THE DUTY OF HEARING MASS foie, it seems ~.tl-iat they ~re obliged.by .this l~w Because the' Church~ ddes not exPlicitly exempt them. Some, theologians and canonists, however, hold that even though no explicik exemption is declared, the Church cannot reasonably be considered to hold them to the law, for she knows that they. will not observe it. This dispute is of .little practical value since the non-Catholics do not know of the obligation, even if it does exist; hence they cannot sin by failing, to fulfill it. 'A iomewhat similar difference of opinion concerns the duty of excommunicated persons. By reason of their excommunication they'are deprived of their right to assist at Mass; hence some moralists argue that they. cannot have a duty to do so. In practice, they may be considered as excused from the obligation; but they certainly hax;e a duty to do what is necessary to be absolved from the excom-munication. Where to Hear Mass We may conclude these genelal remarks about the pre-cept of hearing Mass with a word a;bout the place for ful-filling the obligation. Canon 12'~9 enumerates these places, and in that canon the only explicit restriction has to do with what is termed a private or~atbry. A private or domestic oratory is ushally a chapel in a private housd where Mass may be celebrated for the benefit of an indi'- vidual or his family. Permission to have such oratories with the privilege of having Mass said there habitually can be granted only by the Holy See; and in granting th~s permission the Holy See specifies who may satisfy the pre-cept of hearing Mass there and the days on which it is allowed. Occasionally private chapels are erected in cemeteries. The faithful may satisfy their feast-day obligation by 215 GERALD KELLY hearing Mass in 'these cemetery chapels~ They may also fulfill their obligation, in any church or chapel which is not private in the technical sense explained above; also by hearing a Mass which is said in the open air. All these ,points are explicitly covered by canon 1249. It not infrequently happens tl~at priests get permission to say Mass iia a cabin aboard ship, or in the parlor of a private home, or in some other building or room which is not a chapel in the sense of canon 1249. Can the faithful, fulfill their feast-day obligation by hearing Mass in such places, or is this privilege implicitly excluded by canon 12497 Here again we are in the realm of controversy: some authorities say "yes"; and some say "no." In practice, therefore, liberty prevails: the faithful may satisfy their obligation in these places if they wish to do so. What is to be said of Catholics of the Latin rite who wish to attend Mass celebrated according to the Easterv, rite? The Code explicitly allows this, provided the Eastern Church is truly Catholic, that is, in union with ROme. One concluding remark: the Church does' not i,mpose a strict duty'to hear Mass in one's ownparish church. We should not argue from t~ais, hbwever, that the Church is indifferent in this rfiatter. Certainly the whole spirit of ecclesiastical organization arid' legislation favors an intense parochial life;, and part of.this life is the regular attendance at Mass in one's own parish church. It is not in.accordance with tl~is spirit to encourage the faithful to, attend Sunday Mass habitually in a school or .hospital chapel unless there is some special reason for doing so: 216 Silence C. A. Herbst, S.J. 441~OLITUDE is the home of the saints and silence is ~ their language." I read these simple and beautiful words years ago in a religious house in a great Midwestern city. The place, the time, the room have somehow stuck in my memory. Perhaps it is because the great truth they express has been dear to the beloved in Christ's church for almost two thousand years. The soli-tude of the deserts of Syria and Egypt was the home of those giants in the Christian way of life, the Fathers of the Desert, and they founded there great cities where silence was the language of them all. Surely this was because "Jesus was led by the spirit intothe desert" (Matthew 4:1). He, too, "retired into the desert, and prayed',' (Luke 5:16). From the very first years of the religious life the observance of silence is insisted upon. "The practice of silence is useful for novices," says St. Basil in his Regulae Fusius Tractatae. And he continues, "Unless some special business, or the care of one's soul, or some pressing work, or a question demands it, one should live in silence except for the chanting of the psalms" (Patrologia Graeca. XXXI, 950). Accordingly, as novices we were expected to refrain from unnecessary speaking and from noise; for example, to avoid slamming doors, moving up and down stairs or about the corridor or room noisily, loud talking, and the like. Many a good young religious has had to be given a penance for breaking silence. Perhaps we were told one needs a reason to speak but none to keep silent, and heard quoted the proverb, "Speaking is silver, silence is gold." We read with some humor in Rodriguez: "When 217 C .A. HERBST Reaiew/oc Religious there is no lock to a chest, we thereby understand that there is ~9~hing.valuable inside. When a nut is very light and . bounces, it is a sign tha~ it has no kernel." (Practice of Per-fecffor~, II, "123~)~ Silence may have been a matter of dis° dpline, a thing imposed from without~ but the mechanics of a profes'sion~have fo be learned that way. A disdpl~ine; an external, a mecbani~ Perhaps. And ~mall?~ I am afraid' to apply this word to things'intimately connected with the spiritual l~fe, to ~hings so intimately connected with love for God and with eternal glory in heaven. .At any rate, silence is a challenge to even a brave and mortified man. Let the heroes step forth" gnd accept the challenge of St. Jame's, "But the tongue no man can tame" .(J. ames 3:8). As far as I have observed, the rule of silence is the most consistently and universally violated rule in the religious !ife. I even make bold fo say that experience showsus'eIess talking is not'confined to'women'~a~d chil-dren. It is a man-sized job to "h0id one's tongue:" Nay, more than a man-sized job for the natural man; ~"But the tongue no can can tame:" Who is not so human as. not to have experienced the urge to ask curious and pr,yirig ques-kions? It is hard t6 repres~ the itch for gossip, to-hold back the smart remark, to abstain from criticism: ' It is,hard to wait till the .time for recreation, hard to, breakoff:when.the bell rings. And it is only the strong man. who will crush human respect and remain .silent i.n~the midst of those who will not. This is no longer a small thing, the task of a novice. "But the tongue no man can tame." Speech is a most common, :spontaneous, and "self-full" "expression of the natural man. .A child is born into the f~imily, given a name, and ta.ught with endless pains to speak, o Thereafter one of the most demanding urges of his human nature is to express itself in words. His language ii full of his personality. But tainted as he is by original sin, 218 dulg, 19 4 ~ SILENCE his speech betkays that, too. A man is born again into a religious;~famil#, oftefi takes a new name, and must be taught again .to speak, to express.a personality renewed in Christ. Silence is theschool and the teacher. Advising the ~rbung monk, the Abbot Cassian says,~ "Be careful before all.else ¯ ¯ ¯ to impose the strictest silence on 3~our lips. Thi~ is the first real entrance to an ordered life" (Coltationes, XIV, 9). ~ One must now.unlearn one's evil ways and learn again to speak in God. "And if any man think him-self to be religious, not bridling his tongue, but deceiving his own heart, this man's religion is vain" (James 1:26). Arsenius, preceptor of empero.rs, is said to have heard an _angel say to him, "Arsenius, flee, keep silence, rest: these are the principles of salvation" (a Lapide, Commentaria in Scripturarn Sacram, XX, 137). To preserve exterior silence for the loire of God is a praiseworthy practice and an exc~llent beginning to a reli-gi. ous life. But its higher value lies in this: it prepares and leads the earnest seeker after God to interior silence, to the silence of the imagination, of the mind, of the soul. It is indispensable to recollection. "He, therefore, who.aims at inward and spiritual things, must, with Jesus, turn aside from the crowd" (Imitation of Christ, I, 20). Od enter.ing a religioushouse wheresilence is carefully kept one cannot help feeling that God is very near. There is~an atmosphere ,of prayer. The place seems to "breathe the Divine Presence. "Silence, prayer, charity, and contineficy are the ho~rses of the chariot drawing the mind toheaven," said th~ Abbot Thalassius (Rouet de Journel, Encbiridion Asceticum, 1315). "In silence and quiet the devout soul maketh progress, and learneth the hidden things of Scrip-ture" (.Imitation, I, ~0). We must shut out the noises~of this wo~ld if we would hea¥ the gentle whisperings ofthe Holy Spirit. A noisy interior is ~ miserable thing. If a 219 C .A. HERBST Review for Religious restless imagination is encouraged by much ~alk to go thumping about within us recollection will be impossible. There is a close and intimate connection between speech and the imagination. Idle and vain words call up idle and vain images in the imagination. These images summon others of a kindred sort, in virtue of what is called the law of the association of ideas. In this way a train of flattering, useless, and egoistic images is started. Thought follows imagination and partitipates in its self-gratifying tendencies. Speech follows thoughts and words flow that do not bear on subjects that have a tendency to supernaturalize the soul either of speaker or listener. In conversation words are interchanged and mul-tiplied; corresponding images are called up; and thoughts follow all the time the direction set by the vocal and mental images. (Leen, Progress Through Mental Prayer, p. 266.) " And so on and on, until we realize how spritually wise we should be were we to follow the old Italian proverb, "'Odi, vedi, et taci, si voi vivere in pace." (Listen,-look, and be silent, if you want to live in peace.) When we read the startling and thought-provoking words in St. James's Epistle, "If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man" (3 "2), our first inclination might be to explain away the exaggeration. But there is no explaining away to be done. There is no exaggeration. "Out of the abundance of the heart tl~e mouth speaketh" (Matthew 1.2:34). A man says.what he thinks and what he feels. The thought is father to the word as well as to the deed. If his words are good, his thoughts are good; his emotioris, his passions are under control. For a while one might sometimes think one thing, feel one thing, and say anotheri but that would not be common for long in most things. If any man offends not in word he has acquired self-mastery, he has perfect control over his interior. This control is an important aim of as fine a SyS-tem of spirituality as the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola: "Spiritual Exercises to conquer oneself and regu- 220 dul~l, 1947 SILENCE la~te one"s life withou't determining oneself through any tendency that is disordered,", the title reads. Words tha~ are charitable, patient, obedient, humble, mortified, well up from a heart that is charitable, patierit~ obedient, humble, mortified. When we meet this happy child of God we shall gladly agree with St. James that "the same is a perfect man." But let it be a woman first, "A Woman Wrapped in Silence," Mary, God's mother, of .whom John W. Lynch wrote so beautifully. Her words were few but very pre-cious. Countless generations have cherished them and pondered them and have seen mirrored in them the Immacu~ late Heart of Mary. "But Mary kept all these words, pon-dering them in her heart" (Luke 2: 19). The Blessed Virgin did not speak many words: filled with grace and light from on high, inundated with the gifts of the Spirit,. she remained, 'silent, in the adoration of her Son: she lived on the contemplation of the ineffable mystery wrought in her and through her: and from the sanctuary of her immaculate heart ~ hymn of praise and thanksgiving rose up unceasingly to God. (Marmion, Chcist, the Ideal ot: the Monk, 3 6 3.) And then a Man, the Lamb of God led to th~ slaughter, "and he opened not his mouth" (Isaias ~3:7). In His lifetime "He retired into the desert and prayed" so that the Christian centuries after Him might understand that "he who aims at inward and spiritual things must, with Jesus, turn aside from the crowd." The Son of God spent thirty years of His short life, that carried within it the salvatiori of the world, in silence. Yet how he must have longed to speak, who was so marvellously eloquent! Must he not have yearned to give forth light, in whom the whole communicative wisdom of the Godhead was compiised? When he was so full to overflowing of beautiful wisdom and ravishing intelligence, must not silence have burned in his Heart like a coal of fire? Must there not have been something in his being the 221 COMMUNICATIONS Reoieto [or Religi6us Father,s '~Wor~d, Ghich,-~wguld" .make" him exult ~in .s'peaking~ of ,. the ~Fath.er, with'his human to~gue.g' ('Foa.ber, ,Beth~lefiera, 0332.) '°~ ~, "But 3.esus h£1d his peac.e,"~ (Matt.hew 26;63). The W,o~ Himself did not'speak he.cause the Word, is Wisdom, Incarnate ommunicaEions ¯ Reverend Fathers: ' A little dose of dissatisfaction with one's own achievements in mental prayer is a necessary.condition of progress. But when the complaints about "bad meditations" extend for years and years, we must asl~ ourselves whether we know what a "good meditation" is? At least fbr ~yselL I have discovered'that ~it the very bottom of these complaints l~es a good measure of selfishness. An analysis of our complaints reveals the causes of our d~ssiatlS~ factioq. They~are: distractions; ar~idity of mind; lack of sehsible joy,~onsolation, and spiritual comfort; lack of taste for ~13rayers.;*s'the lives of.saints tell us that they had. We are satisfied When we e~xperi~ e.n~cre 'jo: yi,r t~ealrs;'conso~atlon, a 1 these ca~es we find OURSELVI~S as the c~nter:of interes~tin p~dyei~ ~-W~ ar~ seekirig personal Satisfaction. !Thi~" is especiall~ trt~e if,,after sbm~e :efforts'~w.e'qui~ making !meditations; because .we, do~ nbt find: ~ezgxpect~d personal satisfaction., This,~ naturally, generates a ~ense of frustration, of guilt,.~nd a certain nervousness about the whole business of meditation. °" The ~medy fo~ this lies in ;realization ~f, the primary ehd of every prayer which is: praise, adoration, admiration of God; thanks2 givin~ for His supernatural and natural, gifts; atonemerit for sins and,. finally, p~etitions for .newl graces. ' aeAs long"as one does make efforts to elicit some of the afore-haention~ d acts, his mental, prayer i~ good, In such a prayer we seek only'God, His gl0~y; His will; He is the center of our prayer, n6t:our own gratification. ' . 222 Julg, 1947 o., :/ .' COMMUNICA,~IONS~ ~I.t'is.always.possiBle to praiseo:God, ~ven in the midsv:of., grea't distractions. (Who could not fill the gaps between invbltintary: dis.tractions~ with praise of God?) It is ~possible to thank Him, exen for~His crosse~s.~ .,~even for the distraction° and aridity themselves;. as~ far.,~,asothey are of ,His make, and not the fruit of our negl.ect of: spiritual~life. It,is possible to expose our wretchedness and misery, a~nd .cry for His help . Should, however, once in a while even that ~be impossible, then it remains possible just to keep oneself respectfully and humbly in His holy presence an'd let the .gaze of:His mercy fall' upon our misery. Once we grasp this, once we sacrifice,our ow~n pleasure in prayers; all anxiety .disappears, peace returns to. one's heart. We know-then when our prayer is good, namely, when we make °efforts to please God, not to satisfy our own selfishness.--A Jesuit Father. Reverend Fathers: 'It seems to me that the follow!ng are among the principal reasons for the:difficulties and the neglect of~mental prayer: ,, 1. Failure to Realize Its lmportance,,~That one's prayer .life is synonymous with one's interior life; that it is the source of real growth in the love of God, by disposing our souls to r.eceive and to profit more fully from the grates 'of ~the sacraments; that it is the. greatest help to purity of soul and to an ever greater hunger and thirst after God. St. Teresa of Avila said: "There is but one road that reaches God., and that is prayer: if anyone s~hows you' anotheri.you ~ire b.ejn~ de~elv'ed." " ~ " 2: Di'sc?uragement. Du~. p~r(nci15al'iy- ~o "judging° by,'Bhd's feehngs. 'We-cannot judgebur praTe~ by our feelings nor by "th~ arhounf,of'dryness or desolfi~ion v~e experience it/ pbayer. As long as~ ~ve' tr~ to make our prayer well,'it is "alt~a(/s pldasing t~5 God ~nd prpfita~ble to us, even though,' at ti~e~s, we seem to do little inor~ t~han siinply fight distractions or temptations! 0 God Uses th~se ;tria~s for'our advancement. ~: . ~ " " 3. Lack of Proper li~struction.~--Sou~Isshould be t.au~h~" to pa~s on (th6ugh,not hurriedly.), from discui:sive n~editation to the ~nore simplified'arid richer forms of prayer. ;To try to keep to dis'cursive meditati6n ,wl~en that no q6nger :sUits the' needs df one's, soul i~harrfi-ful;' as ~ell' as difficult~and r~pugnant: ."In this regard, "I,.heartil~ aplSr~ove of all-ileal, y~oi~r fi~st.~correspO~ld~nt-"in the-,March ~ilsue (pp: 109! ft.). °.said' bfi" th~i~subject.'.- '.H~re0 is :wherh°- dire~tion-~e~en " .-223 C~OMMUNICATIONS Ret~ew for Religious though-just occasional, perhaps just two or three times a year---is a great help. " 4. Failure to Lead an "'All Around" Spiritual Life, Proportioned to Our Prayer,--We cannot expect to make great~ progress in our prayer life and the love of God, unless we are s~riving generously to please God during the other hours of the day. There is much tha~ could be said here, but I can think of_no better way of summing up what I would like to say, than to quote from the regulations that St. Paul of the Cross gave to. his religious. He ends his chapter on prayer by saying: "In fine, let all remember that they will never suc-ceed in the exercise of prayer; nor will it produce in them any satis-factory fruit, unless they endeavor with all diligence to be recollected during the day in the presence of God, to be lovers of solitude, to practice mortification, interior as well as exterior, and to observe with fidelity and exactness even the. smallest precepts of the Holy Rule." The first time we read this quotation, it looks discouraging: it seems like we have to be almost saints before we can begin to make progress in prayer and the love of God. But if we re-read it, we see that all he asks is that we try, though diligently, to practice recollection, to love solitude (i.e. to be detached from the world), to practice morti-fication, and to observe the rule. But I do believe that these admoni-tions are very important.--A Passionist Father. Reverend Fathers: .~ The very word religious, it seems to me, suggests~ a d.aily program of prayer more extensive than Catholics. in general adopt. Every religious enters on her career with her eyes open., if she firm,ly believes she is personally called, not only to her holy state, but also to her particular Congregation or Society, and is instructed during. her novitiate in all her obligations, why not always keep it at heart that in the important matter of her daily program of prayer, He who called her will assist her to fulfill that duty to His satisfaction aiad her merit, if not always to her enjoyment? Itomust be remembered, too, that prayer is first of all for God's sake, then for ours. It may be likened to the incensations during the Hole Sacrifice of the Mass,, acording to, the liturgical versicles, "'Dirigatur, Domine, oratio mea, sicut incensum in conspectu tuo,'" and "'Vespertina oratio ascendet ad te Domine et descender super nos misericordia tua.'" How con.soling to reflect that as the Holy Sacri- 224 1947 COMMUNICATIONS /ice is celebrated around the world, our prayer rises as clouds of incense and, in return, there falls the dew of God's blessings upon our lives! In regard to the formal hour of prayer that begins the day of most religious, it goes without saying that unless the highlights of the subject have been tucked into the mind beforehand, little focussing will-be possible on the subject. Who would think of going into the presence of a dignitary or a professional man without knowing what h~ is going to do or say? St. Ignatius Loyola has given us admirable indications on how to use the time of meditation to the greatest profit. I recall how the list of these directives appalled a young reli-gious I know. She intimated that she felt sure they would ruin her prayer. Rising, however, to intellectual considerations, she decided to analyze an hour of prayer just completed. To h~r joyful amaze-ment, she found tbat she had followed them largely as if pressed by logic. Inflamed with this encouragement, she began accordingly, day 15y day to build up her med{tations synthetically according to the methods of St. I~natius. Her. own words: "I knew that reflection clarified the mind." Al-though unaware of the manner of the op.erations of the Holy Spirit, I realized from time to time that certain thoughts stood out very clearly among others in a Scripture text or a rule, or persuaded me very gently to a higher way of action. Yet something, on my part, seemed deficient. I Wrestled again with the analysis, of my medita-tion, to admit tO myself tha~ I was using 'the three powers of my soul' for a meditation, and my senses for the active contemplations of the mysteries of Christ, but I was not making much of the col-loquy. The next day I wrestled again with the though~t content. Then I put down reasoning, put away reflection, and just knelt before God waiting for a thought to come spontaneously. No books ever printed words like those I spoke to God, but I knew I shouId certain~y have spoken them to those I loved~ my people, my friends-- so why not to God, the Supreme Being? The official Our Father sealed my prayer and obtained its last blessing. "Soon I realized that it was the colloquy that made the difference in my morning prayer. I had tasted~something I had never experi-- ended before. God had made me understand the words of the psalm: '0 taste and see that the Lord is sweet.' " Prayer unites us to God. We must keep that union through a busy day. It may be kept active through the day by ejaculations-- 225 I~oMMuNICATIONS "' ~' "' ~ ,.~,! ,. grains:of, incense again, ~thrown~on°.the.,fir~ dr: chari~y in/the s0ul'. Ejadulations first,in, h'0n6r 6f 7God.,° Bht,~the .background 'of the enti[e:mind, too,.m.ust'be kept fqr God,, filled tho.ugh it mu.st.often be with.:a.,t:hous.and .t_hings call.e~t for. by .duty: ~ An-intruder. ,of high r.ank: is ,the gra~tification, of curiosity.¯ Here iLmust be noted,that $3: Ignatius will not dispense from the examens;of his daily program of prayer. It is .the moment' of detecting intruders into God's kingdom and banishing them,, and Of resolving ~o make ~room for His'allies, one of whiqh is spir4tual readigg. Without this first step in prayer, aqcording to St. Bernard, we~ cannot'expec[ t~he second that rest.s upgn it meditatio.n. In o_ur s.torehouse of the mind, we should keep~ not only choice thoughts from this reading, but also tidbits from conferences heard, direction given-,, holy conversations held. And regarding these, is there any-thing that mak~so earth more like heaven than conv.ersations about God and His ways? A~suredly, the mind must be kept free for God. Clogged with useless matter, it is not receptiv.e when'the hour comes for morn.ing prayer, to the things of heaven, nor is it, if the body is ~rah'ted all its desires during" the day and indulged in every whim. HOwever. it may happen that even with the utmost care expended !n~ p~p~ratio.n,, our morning prayer can seem a failure. St. Paul ~¢:ogni.~ed_sucl~'a situation: "To will is present'with me: but to accbmplish that ~hich is good I find' not.", Again, concentration of in!fi'~:s~em~ i;np~ssible. I~ may be ~s. Our Lord said of confusion of another kind, An enemy hath done thts. Or. the mind seems _'~o~. ;o. . I~ . . ." , ¯ ~, . -, inoperative. , If the trouble continues for an apprectable txme, the remedy wdl come w~th a d~rector s counsel. Hts mtssxon an~ studtes prep~ire him to disc.ern ,wheth,er the s~tuation at'hand ts sloth or "the prayer of faith." the means of sanctifitatio9 of So ,many, saints: :- Moreovdr,,it is .well to re~alI, that~artists work years before they mas.tqr ,,their art. And,-,~he i~sue of ~hei~ lifework is so precarious. But ~e.~vho are called by God Himself to a life of pra, y~r know that while He will never fail to i~elp'us, Who "works both to will and accomplish" in us. we can never fail if we do our part. Whether or n.dt"Go~l calls us_f~om discursive to°higfi~.r_forms~of prayer, we shall not .be h~i~led in persevering, however little or great the relish-our pFaydi: may a~ord us: Fo.r. linked with the Hbl'y: Sacrifice of the Mass, it will be acceptable unto'Go~l's praise'and glory, to out'own ~obd'.afid that 6f the entire~ Church.' " .-~" .: ~ - - 226 Tt e ,.Will t:6, Perrrecfion ' " ~AugustineKlraas: S.J. ~IV]HILE recupera, tmg at hls ancestral castle of Loyola ~ from a serious wound received in the battle of Pam-o ploga, Ignatius, to "while .aw~r the lag~iqg hours, reluctantly took to red&rig the lives of the saints. Grace was at x~ork in his s0ul as he b~an to rep~eat over andover to himself: "Suppose I should do. what Saint Francis did, and what Saint Dominic did? Shint Dominic did it, I should do it too; Saint Francis did it, I should do it too." The will to pe_rf~&ioq, already s~t~ong at the beginn~ing of h!s. cgnv.ersi0.h,,.Ignatitis fostered~and de~elbped throughout° his subsequent life; unfalteringly h~ put it into practice.~ It b~tlght him.t9 th'e 16fty heights" of ~anctity, to the summit of spiritual perfe~ctign, to fellowship with Franc'is, Dgminic, and man,.y ~ore. ~" "° "8piritudl p~rfectioti is'a':rfiatte~bf co-'6perating with" the. graee of G6d Whi&i is~alW~ly~ given hbundantl 9 when. asked for in hOmble prayer. We[wh6:pro~ess to sei~k'p{~ife&ioh ari~ somewtJat like"gai~den plants that receive glorious ~un= light ~ind reftesfiing'&v~ from ~ibove. Biai~ these gra~ious gifts Of G6dare'n6t enough~foiSlift! and growth to matu'r- .ity. The robts'df the'~i~lant ~ust' also go down ~eeP irito the soil to draw from it adequate nourishme'nt. That is the constant co-operation witch grace demands of us, and to achieve it, a strong initial impulse must be given and sus-tained. This 'startirig~ p{ash that. goes on:" developi.ng momeritum is the '~ill~t~o~perfection.~ W~ must will, we m~i~t eaffiesti~; d&ir~i .[w~m.ust~ be ~letermined that at an'~r 0~t we ~a~e going"t8 accumhi~it4 al'l the ~a'nctifying grace we 227 AUGUSTINE KLAAS Reuieu~ [or Religious can and also'acquire the highest activity of the love of God and the nelghbor~ posslble.ln ,the particular circumstances of nature and grace allotted to each one individually by an all-wise Providence. The will to perfection is not something physical, as the knit brow, grim jaw, and taut herves of certain mistaken young religious would have us believe; it is not sentiment or feeling though these are frequently present as by-products; it is essentially something in the spiritual nature of man: in his mind which evaluates perfection as a very great good, and above all in his spiritual will. It is not a mere velleity, a "Lord, Lord . . " and nothing more, a willing and no doing; rather it is an effective willing, a resolve that ei~ds in action. Father Le Gaudier likens per-sons who merely will and do not act to ostriches, which sometimes flap their wings ostentatiously as though about to fly away into the air. But nothing.happens, nothing ever happens: the silly birds remain grounded. Out Lord said to the rich young man, "If thou u;ilt be perfect." (Matthew 19:21 ) .~ The first thing to do then is to will perfection, and-to keep on willing it ever more and more, and then to follow through with steadfast, pru-dent action every day. That is precisely what the young man in the Gospel was not prepared to do. He just did n~t have the efficacious will to perfection; hence he did not co-operate with the special grace given him, and conse-quently he missed his great chance, his call to close intimacy with the Savior. II Holy Scripture in many places recommends the will to perfection indirectly, since it is .included in the prayers; aspirations, and good deeds of all God's holy ones. But also directly, especially in David's Psalms: "My soul bath 228 J-l~t, 1947 THE WILL TO PERFECTION cove~ed to long for thy justificationsat all times" (Psalm 118). "As the hart panteth after the fountains of water; so my soul panteth after thee, O God. My soul hath thirsted after the strong living God." (Psalm 41). Did not Solomon receive spiritual wisdom mainly because of his ardent desires for it (Wisdom 7:7)? The prophet Daniel was the "man of desires" of the Old Testament (Daniel 9:23), not so much perhaps because he was beloved of God, but because he wanted so earnestly that God's glory be revealed fully in himself and in others. It can rightly be said that the whole of the Old Testament was one great longing for perfection, since it was a longing for Christ, the Savior, the source and model of all spiritual perfection. This yearning for the more perfect life is the insistent motif of the Church's magnificent Advent liturgy. The New Testament confirms the old. "Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after justness, for they shall have their fill" (Matthew 5:6). "If any man thirst, let him come to me, and let him drink" (John 7:37). And Mary. said: "He hath filled the hungry with good things ¯ . ." (Luke 1:53). Who is the "man of desires" of the New Testament? I thinlY it is St. Paul, that courageous athlete of Christ, and it is manifested on almost every page of his Epistles, for example (Philippians 3: 12-14): Not that I have already secured this, or am already made perfect. Rather I press on, in the hope that I may lay hold of that for which Christ hath laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not. count myself ~o have laid hold of it already. Yet one thing I do; I forget what is behind, and strain forward to what is before, and press on towards the goal, to gain the reward of God's heavenly call in Christ Jesus. Like a runner in a close race Paul "strains forward" to reach the goal of his whole Christian life, world, and suffering. Saint John Chrysostom, commenting on this text, says that not the least of the runner's straining forward is his 229 AUGUSTINE KL/kAS ,' ' ,~ Review for :Religious will: ~and dete~niination to reach the'goal, in this case, the goal .of spiritual perfection. ;Saint Augustine shrewdly remarks that the sum-total of Christian.life is fundamen-tally a matter of holy desires for advancement in perfection: The early ,religious of the primitive deserts were wont to have the aspirant to perfection repeat over and over to him-. self, day and night, for weeks on end this little question: "Why did you come here?" This is what Sai:nt Bernard says (Epistle 341): Did you ever meet with an ambitious man, who, after attaining to one dignity, did not hanker after one of a higher grade? . . . What shall I say of the covetous, are they not ever thirsting after increase of gain? Are dissipated men ever sated with their illicit sex-pleasures? Do not the vainglorious ever go in quest of new honors? If, therefore, the desire of persons who are bent on obtaining the trifles of earth 13e thus insatiable, should we not blush to be less eager after spiritual goods, less eager after perfection? In another letter (Epistle 253) he gives a paradoxical definition: "True perfectidn consists in an unrelenting de-sire of it and assiduous effort to achieve it." Saint Thomas Aquinas' sister, who was a religious, once asked him what she must do to reach perfection. "You must will it," replied the l(arned Doctor of the Church. When with feminine insistence she pressed him with further detailed questions, his only answer was: "You muse will it." And in the Summa (I,.q. 12, a. 6), does he not teach that "desires predispose and render a person apt to receive what he desires"? He writes in his commentary on the text of St.-Matthew (5:6) : " "Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after jti~tice: for they shall have their fill.'" The Lord wishes us to thirst fif'ter ~that justice which consists in rendering to every man arid to God first of all what is his due. He wishes us never to be satiated on earth., but rather that our desire,s, bould grow Mw.ays . Blessed are they that bare this insatiable ,desire. , 230 July, 1947 THE WILL TO PERFECTION . Such-is the~.unanim6us verdict~ of the spiritual masters, put into.practice by ~/11 the saints, who valued it highly and even considered it a necessity for advancemqnt~ along the path to perfection; " Let us close this testimony with that remarkable psychologist0 Saint Teresa of Avila; who writes in her Autobiographtj (Chapter 13) : We must have great confidence, for it is most important that we should ngt cramp our good desires, but should believe that, with God's help, if we make continual efforts to do so, we shall attain, though perhaps not at once, to that which many saints have reached through His favor. If they had never resolved to desire to attain this and to carry ~heir desires continually into effect, they' would never have risen to ashigh a state as they did. Against this solid teaching of tradition and experience stands alone the seventeenth century Spanish Quietist, Molinos, who was condemned by Pope Innocent XI for instructing his followers to have ."no desire for their own perfection, nor for virtues, nor for their own sanctity . " III There are certain qualities which the will to perfection shpuld possess. First of all, it-must be supernaturally mo.tivated. God's glory, our own sanctification, the spir-ithal good of the neighbor, these must b.e.the fundamental reasons why we desire to be more perfect in the spiritual lii~e. All-too-human ambition and foolish .vanity are to be excluded. However, a reasonable desire to succeed, to win the esteem of our fellow-religious, to be in the good graces of superiors, and other such merely natural motives, may be profitably utilized in a supplementary way: but the main stress must always be on supernatural motives if our desire for perfection is to be solid and free from illusions. Then it is more apt to be prudent, humble, apd sincere. It must, too, be all-embracing, like perfection itself. It has to include great things and small, hard things and easy, 231 AUGUSTINE KLAAS " Review for "Religio~is the pleasant and the pain'ful; with a special inclination toward the more difficult, and even the heroic, seeing that our actions generally fall short of our laudable ideals. Hence, we may not pick and choose, ~desiring to be perfect in prayer but not in obedience, perfect in our work but not in our play, perfect in pursuing the hobbies andside issues of life we love so much but not in doing our main tasks, perfect in dealing with externs but not with our fellow religious. The list could be considerably lengthened. At the same time, it must be practical, that is, adapted to our particular condition and state of life, in accord with bodily health, mental capacity, and spiritual strength. The universality of our desire for perfection is thus limited, made definite, concretized by our practicality. A teaching religious may have a strong desire to make a holy pilgrim-age on foot to ,Jerusalem--and no doubt his students would approve it, too~but such a desire is normally out of place, at least during the school year. It just is not prac-tical. Another religiou~ may be wanting to lead a more contemplative life by spending a great deal' of time in the chapel, but meanwhile the orphans are creating pandemo-nium, the pupils are hurling erasers, the sick are getting sicker, and the soup is boiling over. It isn't practical. This practicality will be particularly in evidence when we are choosing the means to perfection; and here let me recall that it is not so much the number of actions nor their greatness in the eyes of the world that counts for advancement in per-fection, but rather the more perfect manner of doing a few well-chosen ones. The saints have done nothing if they have not taught us that lesson, namely, that it.doesn't matter so much to/~at we do as bow we do it. Hence, our desire for perfection must take in the whole concrete situa-tion and be eminently realistic; it cannot afford to chase il!usive spiritual butterflies. 232 July, 19 4 7 THE WILL TO.PERFECtION Furthermoie, the desire forperfection must be effective at all times and in all ptaces~ Here the present moment is all-important. -We must desire to be perfect not only when we have taken our first vows, or our final vows, or when we are thirty years old, or forty, or fifty--but now, at the present moment. "'Nunc coepi.'" (Now I have begun.) Like the saints we must learn to value what has been called "the sacrament of the present moment." Nor must the will to perfection be effective just on certain days, on feast-days and not on fast-days, on Sundays and not on Mon-days. The present moment is every moment. No place must be left out: the desire for perfection must be activated in the chapel as well as in the laundry, the classroom, the hospital, the kitchen, the orphanage, the recreation room, everywhere. I like to recall how the sainf of Lisieux struggled With her dislike of that malodorous cheese in the dining room as well as with her annoyance at her neighbor's rattling beads in the chapel. Always and everywhere must the desire of perfection be efficacious, in a simple, .~natural, and balanced way, with no tensefiess, wor.ry, or constraint. Otherwise it can happen, as Holy Scripture sa3is, that "desires kill the ~slothfu1: for his hands have refused to work at all. He longeth and desireth all the day! but he that is just will give, and will not cease" (Proverbs 2:1~:25-26). "Do what you do" is a maxim, which, if followed faithfully, will go a long way towards m~king ~our will to perfection something more than a mere velleity, something more than a will erratically effective only at certain times and places. Finally, the will to perfection must be persevering, so much so that gradually it becomes the dominating desire to which all others are subordinated. "Seek ye first the king-dom of God and His justice . " No more powerful means to .perfection exists than the habitual hunger and 233 thirst-for the higher life of the soul. 2 Indeed, it is an .excel-lent gauge of the degree of perfection a religious has already attained since the desire increases' in ,proportion[ toe his progress in virtue. - IV There are some obstacles to the acquirement and fos-tering, of the will to perfection. Indifference to spiritual perfection itself is, of course, a great hindrance to culti-vating a desire for it. We do not desire whai: we are not interested in. May we lawfully.-adopt.a "don't care" atti-tude of mind towards our own spiritual perfection and consequently neglect to desire and will it? Certainly we may not, and the reason is simply that our greater, perfec-tion is bouiad up with God's greater glory, and no one may b~ wholly indifferent about that: True, one may be of equal mind regarding the various means conducive to per-fection-- riches or poverty, honor~ or dishonor, health or illness, .and the like--since any of them can advance one to perfection and promote God's greater glory. But it is otherwise with perfection itself. God's greater glory, can never demand that we do not seek our own perfection, much less contemn it; hence, we must in some way strive for and desire perfection. " o~ ~ ¯ Perhaps one may admit theoretically what has just been stated, but deny it practically by the tepidity oflone's life. This spiritual torpor, lukewarmness, and Carelessness in the service of God is doubtless the deadliest enemy of perfection and its desire. It warps the judgment; it makes the wiII fickle and inconstant. It is a creeping pa'}alysis which gradually chokes off and Stifles all will to advance in .the 1ore of God and the neighbor, the esSenCe of perfection. It must be resolutely combated;~ it nius~ be replaced by its 0pposit~e, :Which is devotedness, fervor of" sl~iritual life, a 234 Jul~;o~19 4 7 THE WILLTO PERFECTION synonym for the desire of perfection. ",~ ~ . Anothe~r obstacle is what spiritual writers call rnoratism. This is the baneful tendency to be content with the practice of. the moral virtues and with doing only what is strictly obligatoty. The desire for perfection is thus shoit-circuited, human means are relied on rather than divine, our own little schemes and devices are preferred to a generous trust in the grace of God. In a word, it is a kind of naturalism in the spiritual life which reduces the desire of perfection to an ignoble minimum. The remedy, of course, is, a stronger emphasis on the supernatural in our lives and, while not neglecting the moral virtues, a greater insistence on the theolog.ical virtues of faith, hope, and charity, a more determined practice of the counsels. By our desires we must "hitch our wagon to a star."' After all, a Chris-tian should desire to be eery much more than the equiva-lent of a good.pagan, whose ideal of perfection is the golden mean of the natural moral qirtues. Plus XI points to the objective of.Catholic education a's being "thd supernatural man. who thinks, judges and acts consistently in accordance with right reason illumined by t~he supernatural ligh~t of the example and teaching of Christ." If that is applicable to layfolk, how much more so. to religious? There must be no deliberate limiting of ,the desire for perfection, to the lower level of moralism; the desire must surely transcend the minimum observance-of the Ten Commandinents. Similhrly the will to perfection is hobbled by a pre-dominantly negative concept of ~erfection. If we are wholly taken up with avoiding sin and impe'rfection rather than with cultivating the mote positive aspects of spiritual-ity, such as the acquiring of the virtues and the doing of meritorious works, particularly those of supererogation, it is easy to see how this will curtail our desire for perfec-tion. "Accentuate the positive" is an excellent rule to gov-. 235 AUGUSTINE KLAAS Review for Religious ern our spiritual desires and ideals. Finally, the desire bf one's own perfection, if not rightly m'anaged and ~controlled, can make one self-centered, self-complacent,, spiritually~egotistic. Too much concern with knowing down to the last detail where one stands on the ladder of perfection, just how much one is advancing from day to day, from hour to hour, by doing this or not doing that, does not make for a healthy spirituality, because this attitude often leads to excessive introspection, exaggerat~ed solicitude for minutiae and the relatively unimportant, uneasiness, preoccupation of mind, destruction of internal peace, and loss of true resignation and conformity to the will of God. All these things will hamper a true desire for progress in virtue. This evidence of a subtle pride and selfishness must be cast out of the soul, especially by puri-fying the motives for seeking perfection. It is good to know in a general way where one stands on the road to perfection, but it does no. good and can be very harmful to go too much into detail about it. Let God and His loving. Providence take care of the precise degree of perfection reached. A good principle here is not to look backward too much but rather by our desires to keep looking forward and upward to the summit of the mountain of Christian perfection. Eyes on God., rather than on one's own petty self! V To awaken and augment a real desire for perfection we must have a deep appreciation of the value of perfection itself. To this it will contribute to have a correct estima-tion of the worth of earthly things as Solomon had when he exclaimed "vanity of vanities," and also to be thor-oughly convinced of the importance of the "one thing necessary" spoken of in the Gospels. From this will flow a clear understanding that in the scale of values the desire of 236 ,I~l~1, 1947 " THE WILL TO PERFECTION perfection, when tightly comprehended, is .above all other desires. : The grace of God is needed to make this desire habitual and ever more fruitful; hence, for this grace, we must humbly pray. Can there be any more l~recious thing to pray for? Meditations, examens of conscience, spiritual reading, monthly recollections, retreats, all should be directed to arousing and stimulating the will to perfection, ~specially by proposing tO the mind the correct and most effective motives for will-action: God's glory, our own per-sonal sanctification, the spiritual good of the neighbor. Another help to foster and a~tivate the desire ~for per-fection is to study the lives of. Our Lord, of His Blessed Mother, of the saints, and .of other holy persons. Example always has the effect of engendering a desire to emulate. Saint Ignatius Loyola. is not the only saint who found example a powerful stimulus to the perfect life. It will also aid us to be on the alert to take advantage of the various circumstances of time and place to increase our desire for perfection. In this way, our trials, sufferings, failures, even our sins and imperfections, if rightly used, as well as our successes and triumphs, can be made into steppingstones to greater perfection, if only we seize upon these golden opportunities to whet our appetite for God and His love. Lastly, if we now have no real desire for perfection, or only a very feeble one, let us desire to have that desire and pray for it perseveringly. Spiritual writers say that such a manifestation of good will is almost always rewarded by .a gift from God. VI If the desire for perfection becomes the one, all-consuming, all-pervading passion of the religious, if 237 AUGUSTINE KLAAS' de.spising thethings bf earth:,heconq'uers human ,resp'ect;and_ can honestly say with David: "For what have I in heaven?: and besides thee what do l'desire~ upon, earth?, ¯ For thee my flesh and heart hath fainted awaY/:, thou, oart the God of m~ heart, and the'God thatis my portion'forever'', .('Psalm then there willl come into hisAife a~deeposense'of personal freedom, detachment from transitory created~ al,lurements, a"growing generosity in God's service, and an unexpected happiness. For wherever there is generosity of will and intention, there is spiritual joy: And God in His turri will not be outdone. He will pour out His gracesandfavors on the largehearted religiouso as He did of old on Daniel, on Paul, and on all those other men and women~of consuming desire for perfection. He will satisfy.that hunger and slake that. thirst.with His celestial gifts. Hol,y. desires are very meritorious in the sight of God~ even though some particular longings are not realized because oof circumstances beyond the .contro.1 of the reli-gious.~ Sb6uld fiecessity or:~obedience thwart ;i particular desir~e t~o do something .generous for God's gl6ry, that desire .will receiv:e :its .full-reward an~rway, as Saint Bernard cor-rectly notes. (Epistle 77) : .',The. desire is reckoned as the, deed itself by God,,when the deed is hind~ered by necessity." Hence~ it isono~illusion to desire to do great and~ even heroic things for Christ, such as going on the foreign missions, or undergoing martyrdom, and the; like, even, if there,,is little possibility of their, realization. Ir~ a particular case, God may. really want.only the d~sire~ and hence He will reward it as though it had been fulfilled. , ~ . The fruitful desire of perfection is of immense benefit, not only to ourselves, but to the neighbor also. It will blossom into a zealous apost01at.e, it will add honor and splendor to the w, bole' cburcbof G0d) and ~best ofall it will give grea~"glory, t6 God~ not 6ia]~r~in~ this w6rld, -but' 238. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS through6ut eternity. ' ' " ~' To conclu~te With Clement: Of "Alexa~drih, cgmm~nting on Christ's offer of the p~fect life. tb the rich young~ man (Migne, Patr~logid Graeca, IX, 613) : ° "If thou u~ilt~ be perfectly! Therefore he was not yet perfect . . , and the words if thou wilt divinely show the liberty of the soul which is dealing,with the Lord. ¯ It was in the power of the man, who was free, to choose.; to give was the prerogative of God, as being the Lord. He gives to those who will, to those who make an effort, to those,who pray . God after all, does.not force anyone . He gives to those who ask, He opehs to those who knock. Let us then with God's grace will, and do, and pray; and spiritual perfectionwill surelybe ours to God's greater glory andour own everlasting happiness. Quesffons ncl Answers . What should be the conduct "of the r.ec~pient.of Ho|y Communion should a tiny particle of the Host, unnoticed by the priest, fall.upon his person?, " ~ .Because of the words "tiny particle" this question needs cautious answering. Some people are prone to see "tiny particles" everywhere. For them, the only prudent course of ~action is to ignore what they think are "tiny particles." Putting aside, therefore, the question of imaginary particles, the communicant who notices that a Host or a real particle of a Host has fallen upon his person should .wait at the communion rail and call the priest's attention to the fact. --17- Is" there anything in the Code which mlcjhf be construed as; an obliga-tion on the part of higher superiors to give Sisters a one- or two-week vacation annually? ¯ ~ The Code makes no explicit provision for an annual vacation for Sisters--but:we are inclined to wish that it did. Moreover, since some kind 6f vacation appears to be a normal requisite for preserving 239 QUESTI~)NS AND ANSWERS Reoieto for ~Religious good health and for fostering a wholesome,, c'ommu~ity .~pirit, it seems "that superiors have an implicit duty o~f trying .to provide such a vacation. This statement may call for some further explanation, for there seems to be much confusion concerning what constitutes a vaca-tion for Sisters. In some cases "vacation" app~ar~s to be synonymous with "annual retreat." This is particularly the case with regard to hospital Sisters; but it is not uncommonly verified in many teaching institutes in which the yearly round 'of activities may be 'summed up thus: teachm summer school--retreat---clean house--teach. In view of the fact that Sisters commonly make a fervent retreat, it is nothing less I~han fantastic to consider their retreat as a vacation. In other cases the Sisters' vacations consist in visiting their parents for several days. Of course, this is a "break," and in that sense it is a vacation. But it is not a vacation in the true, and par-ticularly the religious, sense of the word. Often enough these visits are characterized by strenuous activity and loss of sleep, and are therefore not even physically relaxing. However, even if in some cases they provide physical rest and release of mental strain, they are hardly a religious vacation. A vacation f0~religious should serve the purpose of intensifying the community spirit: and this purpose is cer.tainly not achieved b~y going off'for a time with one other Sister tO live ampng seculars, even though the~e seculars be relatives and very saintly persons. Still another misnomer for a vacation is teaching in a vacation school. This too may be a "break." The Sisters get away from strict community life for a time; and some find the novelty, very enjoyable, even though the' work may be hard. Nevertheless, though novel, though enjoyable, though mentally relaxing, it is not what we mean by a religious ,vacation. What do we mean by a vacation? Perhaps the following ~tory will illustrate what we mean: A certain mother general who was keenly interested in the spiritual progressl of her subjects, was thinking of having an inten-siv6, spiritual program that would last about thirty days; and she asked a priest friend what he ~thought of the idea. This priest happened to be a man who leans strongly towards what might be called a practical view of life . "Well, Mother,'Y he replied, after having considered the idea, "'if you can spare your Sisters from their duties for thirty° days, I 240 July, 1947 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS think the best thing to do would be to give them an eight-day retreat and three weeks' vacation." "A vacation!" she exclaimed in astonishment~ "ddst what would they do with a vacation? They're often here at the mother-house. It's a lovely, s~0acious place. Isn't that. vacation enough?" "I agree with you~it is a nice place. Nevertheless, a mother-house is a motherhouse. It has an atmosphere of strict discipline and constant occupation. I suppose you could plan for a vacation here; but you would really have to plan it, or you might run into diffi, culties. When I speak of giving Sisters a vacation, I am thinking of your getting a pla~e away from your regular houses--a place that's private, where many Sisters could go together and rest and play games and, above all, get to know one another. Religious can go through the stress and strain of ordinary duties, and scarcely get to know one another. In fact, when they are always under strain, they can build up mutual dislikes that grow through the years to vast proportions. This can be largely offset by a good community vaca-tion. In relaxation and recreation the religious see one another in a new light, and often discover remarkably fine qualities that they never knew existed. In my opinion, there's nothing like a good com-munity vacation for fostering a good community spirit." She thought over his suggestion for a time, and then asked him: "In-this ideal vacation of yours what happens to the spiritual exercises ? "There's an old maxim to the effect that there's no vacation from the spiritual life. I won't deny that; hence I make allowance for spiritual e~ercises in my plan for the ideal religious vacation. But let's confine it to the ordinary exercises and not use this vacation as a time for adding more and more prayers to the usual ones." Thus far the story. Readers may agree or disagree with the priest, as they see fit. For ourselves, we believe that his idea is worth considering a.nd developing. W~e realize, of course, that many superiors who agree wholeheartedly with the idea are handicapped by tre-mendous difficulties, especially financial, in carrying it out. Nevertheless, difficulties are not always as insuperable as they first appear. We believe that some institutes of Sisters have already worked out satisfactory vacation plans. From practical experience these Sisters may have suggestions that would be profitable to others. If they wish to send these suggestions to us, we will gladly publish them in the REVIEW. 241 QUESTI.ONS~ AND ANSWER,S I) Are superiors required by canon law t6 comply with the wishes of a subject who for a worthy cause asks for a change 6f residence? (2) If the subiect!s reason for inak[ng, the ~request is a'problem of conscience,° is, he obli~jed to reveal to the superio'r the nature of this problem? °~Fh'ese. two questions, alth(~ugh'~oming from different sources, are intirrhitely connected. Arid since they,deal with a matter of th~ high~st importance in the religious life, an unusually detailed answer seen~s called for. Ca~on law contains no specific provision concerning the assign-men~ of religious, The first question, therefore, must rather be answered in the'light of the principles concerning"the government of religious. Sir~c~ this government ofight to be paternal, it seems to follow logically that superiors are obliged to grant reasonable requests of subjects unless the superiors have equally good reasons for refusing them. To apply.this principle in a concrete case a religious superior must consider not only the request of the individual subject but also factors that pertain to other individual religious and to the ihstitute as a whole. The individual who asks for a change of residence is quite, naturally looking at the matter from his own point of view; and from this point of view he may have one or more of many good reasons fbr requesting the change. Forinstance: one's health is poor anti'would probably be greatly benefited by a change; there is strife in the present community, and great peace can be expected from a chari'ge;' a~ teacher is doing poorly in his present assignment 'and feels that if. he could go elsewhere and get'a new start all wotild be well an occasion of sin has'developed, and it seems that~the most efficacious means of avoiding sin is to get away from the pre,sent circumstances.', These are dxamples of good reasons for asking for a change., Some are n/ore serious than others; .yet a stibjec't who~for any oneof'these reasons, or for some similar reason, requests a change of residence is certainly asking "for a worthy cause,'Liis the question puts it. The superior who receives such a~request is bound in conscience to give it prudent consideratibn. The first step .in this prude.nt con-siddration is to weigh the reason itself. If the. superior honestly judges that the subject'would not reap ,the expected benefit from the,requested change, he can hardly have an obligation to.grant it. The obligation in this case is rather on the subject; ~he should either appeal, his case to a ihigher superior, if he thinks it. sufficiently serious, or accept this particular disposition of Divine Providence and.~do the best he can 242 duly, 1947 , QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS under the circumstances. Obviously it is possible for the superior to be mistaken in his judgn~ent, for t~e has no charism of infallibility; yet, granted that he has acted prudently and sincerely, he has nothing with which to reproach himself if subsequent events ifidicate th;it he was unwise in denying the request. Even when the superior'judges that th~ requested change~would be beneficial, it is not always obligatory, .or even permissible, to grant it. For, although patebnal government implies an intimate familial relationship between the superior and the individfial subject, it does not° change tl~e fact that the superior's primary~ duty is to seek~ the common good. He must view the individual's need in the light of the needs of otl~ers and particularly of the entire community.or eritire instittite; ~nd he can reasonably grant requests of.individuals only when they do not Conflict with the greater good. That such conflicts can easily arise" seei~S~ obvious, sirice, ~:he reassigning ~f oile religious usfially involves at least one'other chfing~, and frequently it cannot be accomplished without many changes. ~As one example of~, a" Worthy caule for requestii~g a ch,~ange,,~of residence we mentioned the necessity of avoiding an occasion "dr 'sift: A consideration of' this and of othel reasons of co~iscien~e leads'logi-cally to the very delicate problem indic~tei:l by the second question." namely, how much information must be given the superiol Whe~ change is requested for sfich personal rehsons? There seem~ ~obe a difference of opinion here. As' a clear expression of one ~Vie~, ~ve quote the foll6wing from a letter ient to our editorial board by a priest who is much ihterested in this problem. " "The Code," he wrot~, "forbids a'~onfessor to interfere With the internal government of any religious con~munity. Yet very often matters pertaining to commiinity life also pertain t6 the forum of conscience. Mindful of the Code"and mifidful also of the spi/itual welfare of a religious, the confessor may deem it ne~ces~ry o.r veiy imperative that there b'e a change of ~esidence, 6f.assignmfint, of the community doctor or dentist to be visited for professional purposes, and so forth. ThUd advice ~iven us during our cdurse in p~astoral' theology was to study well the case and then to say to t~e/eligious: 'Tell your provincial or local superior that your confessor adviies.you to ask for a change of residence, of assignment, and so forth.' In the estimation of the confessor tha~t_ should be sufficient: a prbble~ of consci~nce'~exists, and a changeowould be definifeiy helpful in sol'ving it. The superiors a're thus° made aware of theproblei6 basefi"6n QUESTIONS AND ANSWER,S Revie~u [or Religious reasons,of conscience (reasons ,which no religious is bound to reveal to the superior). And yet, strange to say, the request has been turned down ! , "How such a refusal can be justified is beyond me. The confessor can err, but he is in possession of knowledge which the superior has not. The reason of exterior regularity cannot outweigh the'spiritual needs of an individual. Is not the spiritual betterment of each reli. gi6us the first concern of superiors? And is there not for the superior who may judge that ~a confessor has been 'taken in' by religious a means to have the confessor changed, i.e.~ by asking the removal of the confessor from the local ordinary, who can change the confessor without giving the reason? Hence it would seem that a request such as was,stated above should be granted by the superior of the religious who forwards it. The superior may have ~doubts, but the doubt should ordinarily favor the religious and especially the confessor of the xeligious. Personally, I cannot see how any superior can pit his or her judgment against a request that is advised or approved by the confessor, especially w.hen abuses can be stopped by a recourse to the bishop." This is one view .of the matter, strongly and clearly expressed. But it seems to us that there is another side, and we should like to indic~ate it. Let us suppose that a religious has a real difficulty of conscience: for example, an occasion of serious sin: and he goes to his superior with a request for a change of residence. He tells the superior that his confessor told him to ask for the change; he does nQ~t reveal in any way the specific nature of his difficulty. Everyone would agree, no doubt, 'that the superior may take a prudent confessor's word con-cerning the spiritual need of his penitent: and if this were the only factor to be considered in making a chlnge of assignment the superior would not need more definite information. But can this question of reassigning a religious always be so utterly simplified? For instance, how is the superior who is ignor-ant of the nature of the subj ct's difficulty to know that the new assignment will not be more dangerous than the present one? And how is the superior to judge who can be safely called upon to replace the religious in his present assignment?. And since changes like this not infrequently in;colve inconveniences for communities, how is the superior to judge whether the subject's need is sufficient to offset these inconveniences? After all, even conscience problems vary greatly in 244 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS degree; and we doubt if it can be stated as an absolutely generalprln-ciple that all conscience problems must take precedence over the external needs of the community or institute. It depends on what these conscience problems are and what these community needs are~ The superior may be well aware of the needs of the community, but he Can hardly make the necessary comparison if the subject withholds all information concerning the precise nature of his personal diffi-culty. W'e wonder sometimes if the view that the superior has no right to know the nature of a conscience problem is not closely connected with a misinterpretation of ~the canonical legislation concerning mani-festation of conscience. From the fact that the Church forbids superiors to exact a manifestation of conscience, many seem to con-clude that a superior never has a.right to know a subject's conscience problem and that the subject r~eve~" has a duty to make known the nature of his problem. It seems to us that these r~ever's are too abso-lute. Taken at their face value and applied universally, they mean that in many instances the Church wishes to sacrifice prudent govern-ment in order to preserve a so-called liberty of conscience even when this might be harmful to the individual. Even i~ we suppose that a subject never has a strict obligation to reveal the nature of a cohscience difficulty to a superior, a good reli-gious': would not be justified in translating this into an attitude .which amounts'to, "My conscience is none of the superlor's business~" The canon law defiiaitely encourages the practice of ~voluntary manifesta-tion of conscience to priest superiors; and if this is encouraged as a normal practice, it is certainly advisable at a time of special n'eed. ~ With r.egard, to manifestation of conscience to lay superiors (for example, to Sisters), we have often heard it said that the Church p~sitively disdourages the manifestation of conscience difficukies .to them. Perhaps this notion is traceable to the Index to the Code; and it may be well to call attention to the fact that this Index is a private document, not officially promulgated by the .Church. Both Father Creusen and Father Schaefer, who are certainly among the best authorities on the canon law for religious, say that the Church neither encourages nor forbids the voluntary manifestation of conscience difficulties to lay superiors: In this opinion, which seems to squar~ perfectly with the wording of canon 530, § 2, the Church simply leaves the matter of voluntary manifestation" of conscience problems to lay superiors to be solved in' individual Cases according to sound 245 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS pastoral principles. ~ ' It is clearl'y contrary to soundp~storal principles to open one's conscience .to a lay superior,°for the purpose, of getting advice that the superior is n0tcompetent to give. But itis quite in ac'cord with these .principles to reveal one'~ conscience difficulties to a lay superior ~in order to get encoura~einent and especially to get the help required for putting a director's or confesso£s advice intd effect. Those who shy that the Church positively discourages the manifestation of conscience difficulties t6 laysuperiors seem to be unaware of this very important distinction between expert advice on the one hand, and such things as sympathy, encourageinent, and practical help on the other. We have g6ne to some length in treating this matter of manifes-tation of conscience because many of the questions and suggestions that we have received in recent years indicate that subjects often lack filial confidence in their superiors; and this deplorable condition seems to exist among both religious men and religious women. And the fault is by no means all on the side 6f the subject. Some superiors give their subjects the impression that they are not interested in the personal, affairs of individuals: they want only efficiency, external achievement, financial success. Othe/ superiors, after listening willinglyto the subject's diffigulties, appear to be unconscious of the grave obligation of secrecy that the very nature of such communica-tions demands. There is need, it seems, of sincere self-examination on both sides.~::superiors and subjects--ifothe ideals.of paternal, gov~ ern_men.t_and filial confiden_ce are to be adequately attained. We conclude with the following direct answers to the questions. proposed : , ~ ~. 1) The superior is obliged to comply with the request'of the subject if,.after having prudently weighed al~l pertinent circumstances (namely,,.the need of the one making the request, the needs of other r.eligious, of the community, and so f0rth),~ he judges that the reassignment is necessary . 2) In general, it may be said that a superior is entitled to all the information he needs in order to make a prudent decision' of a case. It follows from this that a superior who judges that further informa-tion is necessary before making a change is not violating the rights of the_ subje.ct by refusing to make the change without such informa-tion; and in this case of justifiable refusal a subject who is conscious of, a serious need Of. a change in order to. avoid ,a proximate occasion of morta'l sin seems to. have a strict obllgatio.n to reveal the n~ture of 246 JuI~,1947 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS his problem, at. least to the extent required for prudent consideration by the superior. If, on the other hand, the superior is satisfied with such'general statements as "I would like a reassignment as a matter of conscience--because my confessor, or spiritual director, advises it," , the subject is nor strictly obliged to volunteer further information. So much for the obligation, The ideal solution is that such familial confidence prevail between superior and subject that the latter can readily explain the nature of his problem to the superior and thus get the maximum of prudent co-operation. We think that this applie~ to all religious institutes, wl'iether clerical or lay, whether of men or of women. 19 What is the proper method of disposing of an amputated llmb? According to a reply of the Holy Office given on August 3, 1897, the amputated limbs of Catholics should, if possible, be buried in a sacred place. The Holy Office suggested that hospitals have a small plot of blessed ground for this precise purpose. The amputated limbs of non-Catholics should be buried in unblessed ground. In b'oth cases--namely, of Catholics and non-Catholics--if the doctors insist on it, the Sisters may burn the amputated limbs. This reply of fifty years ago is still, taken as the norm for the proper disposal of amputated limbs. It should be noted that the reply" is quitemoderate in tone. It makes allowan& for difficult "cir-cumstafi~ es: *for exampld, in many plades it might be impbssible to have the "small pldt of blessed ground in the garden of the hos- ¯ pital"; in fact, this might be contrary to civil law. According to a quite reasonable interpretation, it also allows for the burning of limbs that are dangerously diseased, and for the saving of amputated" parts for, examination purposes. We suggest that, if there are any special difficulties in this matter, the local chancery ~office be consulted.Circumstances may call for different policies in different places. m20-- Who is the proper authority to decide the term of office of a mother superior? How long may she remain in office? With regard to local superiors, the Code itself is quite explicit, They are "not to bold office for more than three years; on the expira-tion "of 'this term they can be reappointed to the same offices if the constitutions permit it, but not immediately for a third term in the 247 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS same religious house," The term of office of higher superiors is to be determined by the duly approved constitutions. The usual policy of the Congregation of Religious, in ap~proving congregations of Sisters, is to limit the mother general to two successive terms of six year§ each. She may not be immediately re-elected to a third term. ~2 Im If the ordinary confessor frequently fails fo make an appearance and there should be a real need of informing the bishop, who makes the report Ethe superior of the convent or institution? or the chaplain? In the case of a convent connected with a parish, is it the superior or the pastor who makes the report? Whenever there is real need of informing the bishop of the failure of a confessor to make his appearance, the superior should make the report. Neither the chaplain nor the pastor has anything to do with such matters. ~22m In convents, who applies for faculties for retreatsmthe local superior or the chaplain? The practice varies in different dioceses. In some the locai superior requests the faculties; in others, the chaplain; in still others, the retreat master himself; and finally some r~quire that the retreat master's religious superior make the application. The bishop of the diocese should be consulted and his wishes followed. Our constitutions prescribe that for each deceased Sister we say, as soon as possible, the Office of the Dead, or fifty Our Fathers, adding after each Our Father: "Eternal rest grant unto her, 0 Lord," and so forth. Now the rubric in the Office of the Dead prescribes that after every psalm the following be said: "Requiem aeternam dona els . . . E'f lux perpetua luceat els." even if the Office is recited for only one person. If the fifty Our Fathers are said instead of the Office, which is more properly used, the singular or the plural form of the pronoun? While it is true that when reciting the Office of the Dead the plural form is always used, it is also true that the liturgical form for the absolution recited over the corpse after the funeral Mass.uses the singular. Hence it seems quite proper to use the singular when saying the Our Fathers and Hail Marys for a specific deceased Sister. 248 Book Reviews THE THREE AGES OF THE INTERIOR LIFE: Prelude of Eternal Life. By the Rev. R. Garrlg~u-Lagrange, O.P. Volume One. Translated by Sister M. Timoth'ea Doyle, O.P., Rosary Collecje, River Forest, lll;no~s. Pp. xxiv -f- 494." B. Herder Book Company, St. Louis, Missouri, 1947. Ss.o0. For many years Father Garrigou-Lagrange, the distinguished professor of the Angelicum, Rome, and one of the most eminent of contemporary Dominicans, has been writing on ascetical and mystical themes. Besides many articles in various periodicals, he has to his credit several volumes on spiritual subjects. Some years ago he pub-lished a systematic and formal treatise on the whole field, thus giving a unified, balanced, and complete expression to his ideas on the spir-itual life. Now the first volume of this work appears in English. Perhaps the salient feature of this study is the preoccupation of the author with his thesis that infused contemplation comes within the normal development of the interior life. For a generation and more there has been a great debate over "the question. Father Gar-rigou- Lagrange has been one of the leaders in it, and evidently he is still waging a vigorous battle in defense of his doctrine: "When we' say, in short, that infused contemplation of the mysteries of faith is necessary for sanctity, we mean morally necessary; that is, in the majority of cases a soul could not reach sanctity without,it, We.shall add that without it a soul will not in reality possess the full perfec. tion of Christian life, which implies the eminent exercise of~.the theological virtues and of the gifts of the Holy Ghost which accom-pany them. The purpose of this book is to establish this thesis" (page 23). The whole work is divided into five parts, only two of them being contained in this volume. The first part deals with "the sources of the interior life and its end." It explains certain of the great Christian dogmas that have special relevance to the super-natural life: Thus there are chapters.~on the life of grace, the super-natural organism, the virtues--theological and moral, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the indwelling of the Blessed Trinity, the Mys.tical Body of Christ, the mediation of 'the Blessed Virgin Mary, and so on. After'this dogmatic section comes a discussion of the primary ascetical questions: for instarice, the nature of perfection, the gran- 249 ¯ BOOK REVIEWS Reoiew [or Religious deurs of it, heroism .in. virtue, the passive purgations, the love of God, t~ae,'evangellcat counse!,s?'t~ae special obligations of priests and reli-gious to, pursue perfection, and other such matters. The second, rd, and fourth parts correspond to the tradtttonal three' ways m the spmtual~hfe' ~purgat~ve, ~llummat~ve, and umt~ve. Fmally~ the fi~th ~ar¢ ~i]l'~eal with ~extr~0rdinar~- graces, such as visions', ieve-lations, stigmatlzation,.and oth'e# unusuat ~henome~a. This work, like a much smaller one published some year'~ ago by the sam~ afithor (Les Trois Co~oecsions et les Trois Voles, r932), takes iks name ~om an interesting analogy between the natural and supernatural lives. Both lives consist of three periods or stag~s, and each 0f these three is ushered in by a crisis. Naturally, birth is the fiist crisis and introduces one to childhood. To birth corresponds the 'beginning of One's spiritual life a~ about the seventh year, or wfien~wr one is converted to a really interior life. Beginners are children in spiritual matters: their virtues will not be well devel-oped; their form of mental prayer is rather discursive; special inspi-rations of the Holy Spirit will be latent; there is no great degree of docility to Him; and they will be conscious of self-activity rather than of beifig moved from above. The second crisis in the natural life is pubec&, leading to the age of adolescence, with its~psych~logical as well as physical character-istics. The supernatural correlatives, are the "night of sense" (St. John of the Cross), the" initial forms of in~used (ontemplation passively" purifying the inferior faculties and subjecting them' to the spirit, arid the condition of ~roficientsTgrowing and advancing in-the illuminativ~ way. Now one's virtues become solid, the operaSions of the ~iftS become more manifest, and one assumes more or less the disposition of tile counshls: But if the ~aithful soul keeps striving earnestly and long enough, it will reach and successfully undergo a third crisis answering to "that of first liberty," attaining one's majodtq about the age of twenty-one and'eKtering upon full adulthood. Thd "night of the spirit," a sort of purgatory upon earth, will put one through a most thorough-going and painful purification and will prepare one to ascend th~ highest rungs of the mystical ladder. Then one is~ num-bered among the perfect and is in the uniti#e way. At any point in this supernatural evolution a person may fa~l to go on as he should; if so, he becomes something of a spiritual dwarf or midget. ~. AUG. E~A~, S.J. 250 dul~l, "! 947 BOO.K REVIEWS TERESA, JOHN, AND THERESE:.A Family Portralf of Thr~ee Great Car-melltes: Teresa of Avila, Jbhn of the Cross,~Therese ;f Li'sleu,x.-:o By the Reverend Father Brice, ~C.P. PFi. 336. Frederi¢~ ,Pusfef C6~,mPa~y: New York and Cindnnatl, 1946. $4.00. Few saints are as competent~to, i~spir.e us, to restore and elevate our supernatural vision, to inflame our affections for divine realities, as the Carmelite eagles Teresa, John, and Therese. Each one familiarly known and loved is a powerful aid to sanctity. But a comparative study of the three is .particularly enlightening and fruit-ful. For instance, how many are aware that God's principal tool in fashioning the sanctity of the lovable Therese was the austere John of the Cross? Father Bri& brings competent knowledge to his wel-come study of this spiritual trio; and though his love for all three is deep and sincere, the little Therese is plainly his favorite. Teresa, John/and Therese is adapted to the comprehension qf any intelligent Catholic, religious or.lay. In the mind of the author the three saints exemplify not merely the religious but the Christian way of life. Particular profit, however, is in store for religious and priests who read these pages reflectively. M~ny a brief chapter is fine'matter for meditation, though the work as a whole is perhaps too demanding for table reading. TWo' themes intedbck throughbut; the a~tivity and virtues~of¯ ,, each of th~ thre,e,~ ~ an°d~ ti~ inteyplay. ~ o ,0, of Te'res~i~ ~;nd John. on each. other and of both on Therese. Incident. and quotation, with which'the book abounds,~ are selected car'efully to,give us an ~x~ct and mo~cin~ family portrait. "~ ¯ ~ ~:'~" ~ As~Father Brice intended, we~ leave° Teresa, dohn, oa~t:d Thecese with a keen desire to deepen our acquaintance by firsthand contact. We fiave learnei:I l~d kno~ our ~uides'~eJl eriotigh to entrusl3 ourselves gladly t? i~i~m in the a~c~e~ot~, the' hi~her peaks. R. ~D. Hu8~, ~s~.2-. REFLECTIONS ,ON, THE SUNDAY,COLLECTS ~OF THE~ ROMAN MIS,,SAL. ,~By Sister ¯ Mary, G;nzaga~,Haessly. :' P~p; i32. 'The,Grail: St." Melnradl Ind. 19~,~>. "$~;00: " ' This book brings together, some of the best commentary on the Sunday collects in convenient and usable form. For each of the collects the~e ~s gtven the Latin text with a modern English translation f0ilowed b~ two pages of explan-';tion of the gist of the prayer. Since the collect of each Mass often summarizes the teachihff o~ the Epistle'and the Gosp_el, the bookfis in effect an excellent source for meditation matter reflecting the thoughts and petitions voiced by,the Church during .Sunday Mass from the time of St. Augustine to the present day. Simple re.adingof the explanation of the collect for one,Sunday will sometimes render all °the proper prayers of the Mass for that day vastly, more intelligible. Once in possession of the meaning of. the prayers a religious can more eas!ly make ,their.expres_sion his~o~wn and more fervently lift up mind and heart in union with the Church Universal. 251 BOOK REVIEWS Reoieto for Religio~s In recommending this book we mus( remark ~fia~ the lar~er work of which this is a part was originally written as a doctoral dissertation on the rhetoric of the Sunday collects. In revising the manuscript and adapting it for popular use the au(hor has sacrificed the discourses 9n rhetoric without sacrificing scholarship. roT, L. MACNAIR, S.J. BOOK NOTICES From fragments of letters, diaries, and narratives of Mar~'knoll Sisters in the Far Eastern war areas, Siste~ Mary de Paul Cogan in SISTERS OF MARYKiqOLL: THROUGH TROUBLED WATERS has woven an inspiring account of the war years. There is something about letters

Issue 5.1 of the Review for Religious, 1946. ; ~,$ANUARY. 15, I94~ and Catholic Ac~tion. '." ~ .: s from the, Council of Trent . Joseph V. ¯ Augustine Heart of Mary-r. o. ~ ~'ho~as A. O'Conr ~etic Power Of Christ~ : ¯ ¯ ¯ .~- ¯ ~. " Malhchi ,J. ~Donn, 0__f E q_ u ~ ¯ " .~, , ~. ¯ ¯ LOu;s J; . ious Buy ~nd Sell? . ~.m c, Ouesfions .Answered RE 'FOR RELi VOLUME V bANUARY 15, 1946 NUMBER CONTENTS-PIUS X AND CATHOLIC ACTiON o ~seph V, Sommers. S,J . SPIRITUAL READINGS FROM THECOUNCIL OF TRENT--~'IIIm Augustine Klaas. S.J.' . OUR ~ONTRIBUTORS ,o-, . '-, . "WHAT'S A DOMINICAN?" " . . . ¯ 24 THE IMMACULATE'HEART OF MARYmThomas A, O'Connor. S,J, 25 INDEX OF BACK NUMBERS .~. . . ,.- , , 32 THE MAGNETIC POWER OF CHRIST~-~-" Mal~l~i J,D0r.nelly, S2J, ,-. 33 BOOKLETNOTICES . , ; ." .". ~ " " 39 17 24 ~ .) COMMUNICATIONS . - . ., . . . . 40 THE VIRTUE OF EQUITY~L~uis J. Puhl, STJ,~ . 4~3 BOOKS°RECEIVED , . . L , -, ', .- . 49 MAY RELIGIOUS BUY AND SELL?Adam C; Ellis, S,J, " " 50 BOOK' REVIEWS-- . Journey" in the Nighf; The Servant"of God. Mar~ Theresa Led6chowska;. The Heart of Man: The Wool Merchant of Segovia: World Christianity; How the People of Africa Live . . . ¯ . ~ . 66 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS--~- l".'Active and Passive 'Vote or Voice ¯ 70 2. Spiritual Director for "Professed Novices" . . 70 3. Confession before Communiqn 4. Successor,to Deceased Mother A'ssistant . . . . 71 5. Te Deum on Feast of St. Joseph . '. . 71 6. Repair Work On Suffday . 7. Re-election of Mother 'General after Eli, yen Years . 72 REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, January, 1946. Vol. V, NO. 1. Published bi-monthly; January, March, May, July, September, and November at the College Press, 606 Harrison Street, Topeka, Kansas, by St. Mary's College, "St. Marys, Kansas, with ecclesiastical approbation. Entered as second class matter January at the Post Ofl~c'e, Topeka, Kansas, under the act of March 3/1879. Editorial Bgard: Ad.am C. Ellis/S.~., G. Augustine Ellard, S.J., Gerald Kelly, s.J. Editorial Secretaiy: Alfred F. Schneider, S.J~, ~" Copyright, 1946, by Adam C., Ellis'. Pdrmi~sion is hereby granted for quotations of reasonable length~ provided due credit be given this, review and the author. Subseripti6n price: 2 dollars a year. Printed in U.-S. A. "~ Before writing to us, pleaseconsult notice on Inside back cover. ., Review t:or Rel~gio.us Volume V January--December, 1946 PubliShed at THE COLLEGE PRESS Topeka. Kansas Edited by TH'E JESUIT FATHERS SAINT MARY'S'COLLEGE St. Marys, Kansas PiUS X and°Catholic Joseph V£ Sommers, S.J. [INTRODUCTORY NOTE: This article° may lead to a misconception unless it is ¢lea~ly understood from the beginning that Catholic Action as here explained is lim~ ited~to the'thought of Pius_X. He was pope, from 1903 to 1914. Since that time Pius XI an~d. Pi~ul XII have further refined the,notion of Catholic Action. Their - writi'~gs and speeches so far ove'rshadow their predecessor's that.~in many articles . o and books reviewin~ the papal directives. Plus X receives, only passing ieference. His relative position might be made.clearer from this comparison. If all the di~ec, .tires on Catholic Action that have come from the Holy See since "the time of~ L, ed XIII were put into one volume, they would roughly equal a 670 page book. Of these Leo XIII would get the first ten pages:~Pius X the next sixty; 500 page~ would go to Pius XL and the remaining pages to out'present Holy Father. Yet' Pi-us X's thought is of historical importance: He gave Catholic Action its~ first great impetus. Although later popes have written more voluminously, yet~th, ey, repeat much that P~us X already sa~d. It'wdl be ~nterestmg. therefore, to inve.stigate. how the recent pap~al demands for an organized Catholic lay apostolate got started.] , .~ |oSEPH Sarto was Bishop o~ Manti~a wiaen in January~.~. ~,.~,~ 1890, l"ie heard the trumpet call for the~lay apostolate. Pope Leo XlII bad just issued his encyclical on'the .~bYef .Duffes of Christi'a~s as Citizeris. Listed amon~g;the ~obligations of every Catholic layman was an active'share in ~'.defendingand extending the Church (A, 115-8).~ Esp_e-. -,cial'ly in thes~ our-~ays, Leo wrote, the laity must openly profess ~the Catholic doctrines and teach them to the utmost 6f their' ability. They should take upon themselves, .indeed-the office of the pastor, but: the task'of communi-0. ~ating. to others what they. have received, becoming as it were living echoes of their teachers in the faith" (A, 1 16): The faithful, however, would.hot satisfy these du, ti._e~, as it is .fitting they should, were they ~to enter the fight single'-' handed. They must work" together as frained sol~tierd - deplbydd fof battle. In defence and in conquest, they inust ~" ~The present arttcle ~s a condensatton of,'a chapter tn a symposium on the life :ind i ~6rk Of Plus X which Will .be published in book form by St. 'Anthony:s Guild, ~'Tfie books and documdnts cited in the article are listed at the end. References in the text ~ill b~ merely by means of a letter °and number. The letter refers to the book; the fiumber to the,page. UO~EPH V. Sb~MERS " ~- ~ Reoiew for RetigioaF fight.' under the direction of th~ pope and ~he bishOps. Thu~ did'Leo XlII outline' the duty of the lay~aposto- "late: Almost immediately Bishop _Sart% re-e~hbed th~:. 't.~aching of his suprercie pontiff .in a speech on "Obedi~nc.e to the Pope inoCatholic Action." Izater, as-Cardinal Patri-" 7arch~of .Venice, he urged obedience to the popd- as an important motive for engJaging°ir~ this apostolate: "Cater ollc Action has.been c.ommanded by the Pope., who has sig-~ -nified hisown mind in.so many ways, and t~hat is ~nough -for us to be sure that it is the ~ill of God also" (B, 109). ~ Picking a.Name [or the Lay Apostolate Although Pius X did not co~n the title "Ca~tholic A'c-tion,;' yet be ,is certainly the fiist pope to make frequent~ ~ use of this term to dtisigfiate the laity's. ~lhare in the apostolic mission of the Church. Even before he had been elected," ti~ used. th~ eklSression. As Patriarch of Venice, fo.r exgmple, he eml~hasized that "Catholic Action is pro'per to the laity and'n6t to the clergy. " .-Catholic Action is prop- :er!y-lay in character." (B, 108. ) When pope he offi, ciall~i ~, c~ristened this apostolate with a-"distinctive, and.surely-a_ very nobld name: Catholic Action" (A, 192), All in~all,- Piu~ used the term's~veral dozen ti~es: in letters to the - Catholics of Italy, tb. the Hierarchy_of France, to .thd Arch!: ~. bishop of Quebec, and iff writing to the'whole Catholic~ World: Since his pontificate, "Catholic-Acti~ri" has~ remaihed a t~chn~cal term both in papal documents andi~ " " other W.ritings that adhere accurately to-the terminology: of~- .,the popes in this matter.Today "Catl~olic Action"~ erly Si~hifies-both the rnand[~te~d organizations"and~ the ~apostolic activit~r of those Catholic laymen who officially participate i~n the apostolic mission of the hierarchy. . Doc6ments on Catholic Action - : " ¯ Pias X did more than give the- l~y apostolate a Janua(g, 19~6 PlUS X AND CATHOLIC ACTION name. He wrote so, me fifteen thousand words clearly explaining Catholic Action and insistihg that it be accu-rately pu[ into practice. While six main, documents contain his.teaching, yet three of these deserve special men~ tion. The first is a speech.deli.vered in the 1890's (B, .107- 10) ; the second is a sizable part of his first papal encyclical. E su'premi apostolatus (of. C) ; the third, and most impor-tant, is his apostolic letter, II fermo proposi}o (The_ Firm Resolution; c~." D.) In fact, II fermo proposito, published justforty years ago, v~as for its time the 16ngest andmost dethiled 6f all papal pr0n0uncemen.ts on Catholic A~tion. It runs throUgh-tWenty-seven pages of the Acta Sanctad 8edis (The Acts-of the Holy See-) and is one of the rela- (ively few documents fotind there in tw~ languages: the original Italiafi and a Latin translation. A note prefixed to the Latin version gives the reason: although addressed to the Catholics of Italy, its very important teachin~g can be exceedingly profitable to Catholics everywhere (D, 741). The immediate effect of this letter upon the people of Italy was observed by the Roman correspondent-of The Tablet. Writing pack to London just two weeks after it ¯ was.released to thepublic he reports: "Not since the Ency.c-lical Return Novarum, published about fourteen years ago, has a Papal document excited such deep and ~eneral inter-est all through Italy as Pius X's last pronouncement on the Catholic movement" (cf. E). ° The far-reaching result 6f II fermo propos(to can be seen in Pius XI's voluminous writing on his fav6rite subject, where many of its phrases and nearly every one of its ~nain ideas are repeated (cf. F). Let us, therefore, r~view Pius X's teaching on Catholic Action b~rattempting, in some sort of logical order, a simple summary of what he said and firrote. We shall present his six main documents in 6he composite picture. In doing so we shall give.his teaching, as far as possible, in his own 5 JOSEPH V. SOMME.RS ReOieto [or Religious words. This will l~elp assure his views being seen in their own light, And for those familiar with the more recent directives of°Pius XI and Pius XIII it will be,convincing evidefice that many of their ideas have been taken from the words of their zealous predecessor. A Problem and an Answer Let us begin, then, where Plus began, with the pr0b-lem: The issue--as he saw it---concerned the salvation of souls, wh~ lived in a world that was in large part detached from the Church and heedless of the laws of God. Secu-larism was.the chief foe that fought against Plus in Man-tun, Venice, and Rome. In his first official letter as Patri: arch ofVenice, Cardinal Sart0 descril~ed the situation thus:. God is driven out of politics by this theory of the separation of Church and state. He is driven . . . from the laws by a morality which is guided by' the senses alone; from the schools.by the aboli-tion of religious instruction~; from Christian marriage; now deprived of'the grace of the sacrament . "q~re.must fight this great error of modern times, ~the enthronement of:man in the place of-God. (G,~ 46.7.) - Again in his'first encyclical he recalled the problem: "that enormous and detestable wickedness, so characteristic of. ou~ time.--the substitution, of man fbr God" (C, 8). This evil was directly opposed to his own firm resolve to restore all.things in Chris(. While still Cardinal he stated plainly th~ connection between secularism and the lay apostolate, between the problem and the solution: Catholic ACtion [he said] is properly lay in character for another reason . At one time the rights of Jesus Christ, of the Chflrch and "of the Pope entered into th.e, legis!ation of all ChriStian states . Now it is no longer so. The Church, the Pope, are no longer recog-nised as such and no longgr form part of the social organism;-they . are relegated to the sphere of.common rights; nay, they.ar~ even con~ sidered as enemies . Since these things are so; who is it that must danuar~l, 1946 PlUS X AND (~ATHOLICoACTION "~ stir himself to defend the violated rights'of . . . tl~e P6pe, lbe Church and the Bishops? In otl~er times it was the P01~es and the Bishops who intervenedin defence Of "their children. ; today it mustibe, the children wh6 will rise up in defence of their father, the laity .in ' defence of the Hierarchy: . . . (B, 108.) " ' In his first encyclical he outlined the means necessary to restore all things in christ. Urging ~:he bishops first to have as their.chief care the formation of their seminarians and priests to holiness and truth, Plus then exhorted them to instruct their people in the faith and to attract ~inful hearts "tO Christ by conspicuous charity. Finally, as -though reaching a climax; the new Pope pleadedfor the lay apostolate. He expanded this call till it filled one-eighth of his whole encyclical. He speaks to the.bishops of the world: ~. In this arduous task of the restoration of thi~ huma~ race in Christ neitl~er you nor your clergy should exclude all assistance, We know that God-recommended every:o~ne to have a care for his neighbor (Eccli. 17 : 12). For it is not priests alone, but all the faithful with-out exception, who must concern themselves with the intei'ests of God and souls not,'0f course, acco~rding to their own views; but always under the direction and orders of the bishops. ". (C, 12-3. Italics are ins~erted.) ' Here then is the world problem and a papal solutionl .In [t~ modern organized form Catholic Action has been developed as an integral part of the Church's answer to the " ~chief modern i~roblem. If God's laws arein great part dis-placed from politics, from public education, from the civil " marriage contract and the average home,, from big business and smart entertainment, then °the Church in her. efforts to restore all things in Christ will make special use of laymen. Who else ar~ better situated to re-Christianize labor and business, family life and entertainment? It is precisely the " [aity's place in the world that puts them-in a strategic posi-tibn to influence the reconstruction of these phases of life JOSEPH V. SOMMERS Reoiew 1o~ Religibus according: to the Christian pattern. Hence. the Pope's insistence ihat the laity collabor.ate in the ¯work for, God and souls. , ' - Explaining the Answer Already we have seen in broad.outline what Plus X .mteaecahnisn gb ym Coraet h loglsiecl yA.'c Wtiohnat. aIct croermdianign tso thoi mex ias mthien aei mhis ¯ of .Catholic Action? W~at are the methods it should employ?- What relation has Catholic. Action to the pope, the bishops, and priests? What are the effects to be looked fort Finally, what is the importance of Catholic Action in the eyes of Pius X? These are the main qi~estk;ns to be considered. 'Others of a secondary natu.re will be treated more briefly. ", In explaining the lay apostolat~ Plus, first and last, -~alled for ACTION. These are perhaps his str0nges.t words: - Catholic Action will not please certain timid souls, who thougl~ go~d living, are so attached to their habitual quiet ahd so afraid of every innovation that they believe that it is quite sufficient to pray, because God knows b~st how to defend the faith, humiliate His ene-mies, and make the Church triumphant. But these good people, whom I would call optimists, will' wait in vain for society to re-Christianize itself simply by tthe.prayers 6f the°good. Prayer is absolutely necessary because in the ordinary economy of salvation God does not concede graces "except to him who prays, but India and Japan would never have been converted by.tlSe prayers alone of Xa~rier: the.Apostles would never have conquered the world, if the~ .had not done the work of heroes and martyrs. It is necessary; there-gore, to join pr~iyer with hction,~' : There are others [he continues] who in order to justify .their inertia, give the worid up for lost, since~ they see in it.so many evil~!. ¯ Tl"ies~ people, whom I would call pessimists," say that it is so much wasted time to talk of Committees, of Circles, of SocietieS,~that they . will never :accomplish anything. It is sufficient' to remin~ these wearied and dispirit.ed souls that this kind of work of Catholic Action: danuarg,-1946 PIUS X AND" ~(THOLIC~ AC:'TION hag bee~ commanded by the Pope . (B, 1"09.) ¯ Up to the prese.nt, [he remarks] we have been like rabbits, too frightened" of everything and everyone to institute the Parochial Committee [local unit of Catholic Action], in order not to give offence. To whom could the Committee give offence? .To two cl;isses of people only: to the bad, and if we gave way. to them .we would. have ~0'stop all good wo.rks; and to those good people who shrink f~0m innovations. We must tell these last clearly and distinctly that these i~{novations~are both beautiful and good; that as the ba~d uhite; so also must the good: that if they are innovations they ar~ desired by the Vicar ofJesus Christ, and that he wh~o does not obey th~ Pope does not obey God.(B, 110.) Good Example a Prerequisite for LayApQstles- But as Words, and energetic hction [the Pope adds elsewhere] are' of no avail unless . . . accompan~i, ed . byexample, the necessary characteristic which should shine~ forth intall the members of e.very Catholic association is that of openly manifesting their faith by the holiness of ~their lives . . . and by ~he exact observance o'f the laws Of G0d~and 6f the Church. (H, 10.) Ifthe soul is not thus regulated [Pius observes] it will be diffi- Cult to stir others °to go6d, and, strength will fail for bearing perse-veriiagly th~ weariness Which every apost61ate brings with it: the calumnies of efiemies, the'coldness and want of he!p from men good in themselves, and sometimes the jealousy of~friends and fellow-- workers-~--excusable, doubtless, on account of the weakness 6f human nat.ure, but very harmful, and a cause of discord, offence, and quar-rels. (A,'193.) Good example, "therefore, and the solid virtue under-lying it are necessary if Catholik Action is to attain its end. With this in miffd the Holy Father remarks: .To carry it out rightly; we.mus~ have divine grace, and~the apostle receives none if he is not united to Christ. Only when we have formed Jesus Christ within.ourselves shall we more easily~ be able, to ,g!ve Him back ~o the family and to society. (A, 193.) The Aims o~ Catholic Action , ~ .~ C:~tholic A~tion is a~lay apostolate to restore allthings in Christ. In It [ermo proposito Plus adds further: 9 Reuiewfor RHigiou~ It is plainly necess.ary that every one take pa.rt i'n a work so impor-tant, not only,for the sanctification of his 'own soul,' but also i'n order ~o spread and more fully extend the Kingdom of God in individuals, in families and in society---each one working according to his own strength for his neighbor's good . (A, 189-90.) Ou~ pre.d.ecessor Leo XIII . pointed out . . . in the famous encyclical Return Novarum and in later documents the object, to which Catholic Actign should be specially devoted, namely, the prac-tical solution of the social question according to Christian principles. (A, 194-5.) Here the italics are in the text---one of the few instances in his apostolic letter on Catholic Action where Plus X thus undersdored his own words. He wished this last sentence to point like a spotlight at what he Considered the most impo.rtant work for the organ.ized lay apostolate of his day. He goes on to e~plain-his point: You see well what support is given to the Church by those chosen bands of Catholics whose aim is to unite all their forces in order to c6mbat anti-Christian civilization by every just and lawful means . : to reinstate Jesus Christ in the family, the school, and society: to re-establish the principle that human authority, represents that of God; to take intimately to heart the interests of the .people, especially those of the working and agricultural classes, not only by the inculcation of r.el!gion . but also by striving . . . to soothe theii sufferings, and by wise measures to improve their economic con-dition: to endeavour, consequently, to make public laws conf0rmhble to justice, to amend or suppress those' which are not so: finally, with a true Catholic spirit," to defend and support .the rights of God in everything, and the no less sacred rights of the Church. All'these works, of which Catholi~ laymen are the principal sup-po~. ters and promoters . . . constitute what is generally known by a distinctive, and surely a very noble name: Catholic Action . °(A, 191-2.) Re-Christianized in its civic, social, and ~conomic life, Civilization will then pr6vide a wholesome environment for those phases of individual and group life tl"iat are spe~ cifically and direcdy religious andmoral. It was the wis- 10 danuarg, 1946 PIUS X AND CATHOEIC ACTION - dom of Plus X to realize~that to Christianize individuals, a quick and sure way is to Christianize their surroundin'gs which unremittingly exert an influence for good or evil¯ For it is the environment which largely forms or deforms the individual, Christianizes or de-Christianizes him. On ~his account Pius repeatedly insiste~l that the Catholic laity help to establish and extend the Kifigdom of Christ not 8nly in individuals but also in families and in ,society. The Means to This Christian Restoration ;'The diffusion of revealed truth, the exercise of Chris-tian. virtue, and the spiritual and corporal works of mercy" (A, 190) are thegeneral means recommended to effect this restoration. 'Especially in his encyclical, Acerbo Nimis (On the Teaching of Christian Doctrine; I, 623), did Plus X insist upon the diffusion of revealed truth as a neces-sary means to restore men's minds and actions to Christ. Here too, he stressed the.need of the laity sharing in the edu-catibnal work of the hierarchy by his command that the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine be established in everv parish.in the world. Pihs likewise u.rged Christian charity. But the charity be wished to see exercised was not conniving and short-sighted tolerance. ¯ . . The first duty of charity [he says] does not lie in the toleration of erroneous convictions, however sincere they may bd~ nor in theo- - retical ok practical indifference for "the errors or vices in which we s~e our fellow-men plungdd, but in zeal for their inkellectual and moral improvement as well as for their material well-being. (d, 404.) Catholic Action as an organization is not a political party; .it has npthing to do with party politics. But its members as individual Catholics, Plus pointed, ou't, must use their civic right to vote and to hold office in order to pro-mote justice and truth. This section of I1 [ermo propgsito had particular appl.ication to the political situation in Italy JOSEPI~I V. SOMMERS ~ " ¯ "Review/:or Religious durir~g the ~first decade of this century. ~ Tile.wish of. the ~ Pope, howevei, extends to allCatholic citizens and direct~ them to use,, wherever possible, the democratic processes of government to bifild civil society according to the Christian .blueprint. . Other :means recommended by Pius, becau~e of their usefulness to bring about coope.ration and to arouse.enthu-siasm, were regional, and national congresses of 'the Cath-olic lay movements. These are his own.words: " ¯ . . In order to renew and increase in all Catholic undertakings the necessary enthusiasm, to give to.their "promoters and n~mbers an o~portunity ~o'f ~eeing and becoming atquainted with each other,.to draw ever more closely the bonds.of brotherly love, to enkindle in one another a more.~burning zeal for e~cient action, ,a.nd to provide, for the better establishmefit and,sp'.rea.d of the same works, a wonde~ful help .will be found in the meeting from time to time, according.to the Jules already; given by the Holy See, of general or local Con-gresses of. Catholics; and they ought to be a soler~n manifestati6n of Catholic faith, and a common festival of harm6ny and peace. (A, 198.) ~ : Relation of Catholic Action to the Clergg "It remains for us to treat of another point of the highest importance, namely the relation. which all the w6rks of Catholic Action should, bear to ecclesiastical authority" (A, 198). Those works immediately con-nec, ted' with '.the spiritual .and pastoral ministry of the Church,, having a religious a~m intended directly for the good of souls, should submit in every smallest particular to the authority of th~ bishops. But other works of Cath- 61ic Action de.signed .chiefly to restore and promote in iZhrist true Christian civilization have greater freedom, although the.y too are dependent on the advice and direction of ecclesiastical authority, inasmuch as they must conform to the principles of Christian faith and morality, . Although Catholic Action is proper to the laity and danuarg, 1946 PlUS X AND C/~THOLIC ACTION not tO the clergy, yet priests have the duty of guiding and encouraging its de.velopment. The Pope's ideals are rather high. He advised the French. bishops to choose from among their priests . ~. men who are active and level-headed, possessing the degrees of doct6r ¯ in philosophy and theology, and a thorough knowledge of the history of-ancient and modern civilization, and apply them to the less ele-. vated and more practical study of social science, in order that at.the "right time they may be put at the head of your Catholic Action. (d, 407). To the Italian bishops, he says: - . The co-.operation of the clergy in the works of Catholic .Act.i0n has a deeply religious end: it will never become a hindrance, but will be a help to their spiritual ministry by enlarging its sphere and mul-tii~ lying its fruits. ('A, 200). Results o[ Catholic Action; Its imp'ortance The good example given by a great army of.soldiers of Christ will be of mu~ch greater avail in attracting and per-. suading men than words and learned dissertations. In Our First Encyclical to the Bishops of the World, in which We echo all that Our glorious Predecessors had laid ~town c~ncerning the Catholic-Action df the laity, We d~clared that this action was. deserving of'the highest praise, and was indeed necess;iry in tile rpres-. ent condition of the Church and of society (H; 3). Speaking t~ the whole Catholic world in his encyclical on - St. Charles Borromeo, the Pope again praised that "Cath-olic Action which We have frequently recommended': as. most efficacious for the well-being of civil society (K, 246). Witl~ these public statements as a backdrop we can bet~ ter appraise.an incident narrated by Abb~ Chautard in The Soul of the Apostolate. Happening to be one day'amidst a group of Cardinals, the Holy Father sai'~ to them :" "What is the thing most necessary at the present, time to save society ?~' "Buikl Catholic schools," said one. 13 JOSEPH V. SOMMERS "Review,,for Religious "No." "Multiply churches," replied another. "No aga~." "~ncrease the recruiting of the clergy," said a third. ~ "No, no," replied the Pope; "what is most necessary at the pres-ent time, is to have in each parish a .qroup of fat.linen at the same time virtuous, well=instructed, determined and reallg apostolic.'" (L, 161- Not All Lay Organizations Are Catholic Action " After having gi~ren a lengthy explanation of the fu!l, meaning of C~itholic Action, Plus concludes, "such are the 'characteristics, aims, and conditions of Catholic0Action~" ¯ And he adds: This does not exclude the favoring and promotion of other works bf diverse.kinds and varied organizations, all equally aiming at this or that particular good of society and of the people, and at the revival of Christian civilization under various aspects. (A, 197~ The special and particular aim of these other organizations is what first distinguishes them from Catholic Action, the aim of Which is co~bxtensive with ~hat of th~ Church, The Pope goes on to add two further pbi~ts of differbncel' '.'The~e works arise, for the most part from the zeal of individuals; they are spread throughout separate dioceses and are "sometimes united in more extended federations" (A, 198), C~tholic Action, on the other hand, arises out of obedience to the pdp~,; in design it is world-wide. -. Were his directions being followed? In Italy, Catholic Action had developed-into four national organizations, each independent of the others. In Belgium the Catholic Association for Belgian Youth was coming into being, while in France a Similar organization was fairly well established. Even the Far East felt the influence of Plus X's apostolic i~ff0rt. In 1912 the Union of Chines~ Catholic Action had ,. been begui~. ' " 14 danuaq¢, 1946 PlUS X ANDCATHOLIC ACTION Cathoiic.Action l~s a C-bristian Tradition Pius. X's teaching on Catholic Action is but one chapter in the.long history~of the.lay apostolate. For~.Cath01ic Action is not an innovation of our day.Catholic Action is "more than an answer to a modern.problem; it is the°return to a Christian tradition. It~wa~ the practice of many of the faithful at~the time ofSt. Paul. It was re¢ommende.dby St. Augustine, St. Thomas !~quinas, and the Fathers of the Vatican Council. ¯ .In Pius X's.own words:: "It has always come to thi~ aid-of the Church; and the Chu~ch.:has always -welcomed~ and -blessed it, although it has acted, dn: various ways in accordance v,)ith the age" :(A, 19 2 ). " ":" _.~ Pius X in resgoring this . Christiai~ tradition gav~ detailed instructions on the lay apostolate that' far exceeded the known Writings of .any previous pope, In ~Snclusion:, however, it.wou!d be wall to note that .~he CatholicACt~ofi which Pius X had so carefully nu}tured was to develop even~ mbre. during the".p0ntificate of Pius XI. For itl was left to.this latter Pontiff to define~moreexactlY the-many details which now Characterize! official Catholic ~Action .(~cf. M). Yet despite these new qualifications, at.least-two-thirds of all his teaching can be found substantiall.y in the writing of Pius X. These_then are Pius X's contributions. He marked the way:-by restricting the term Catholic Action ~o the laity's share in the apostolic mission of the hierarchy; by setting the tinivershl aim for Catholic Action to establish, defend, and fully extend the Kingdom of Christ in. indi-viduals, in families, and in the whole, of society; by stressing its spedal necessity in our times; by giving it pre-eminence among the means recommended for the recon-struction of the social order according to a Christian pat-tern: by basing the obligation of Catholic Action on mem-bership in the Mystical Body, on the-law of charity, and. :~IoSEPH V. SOMMER~ -. obedience, to the pope; by outlining its subordination tO the direction of the hierarchy; and by., recalling t~) priests their obligation to gui~le and encourage this apostolic organiza-tion among the laity~ REFERENCES (A) The Pope and the People. Select letters and addresses on socia.I questions Popes Leo XIII, Pius X, Benedict XV, and Plus XI. The Catholic Truth Society~ London~ 1943¯ (B) Rest.oring All Things, by ,John Fitzsimons .and Paul McGuire. Sheed,and Ward, New york, 1938. Quotations are used here with the per.mission of the publishers. (.C) The Catholic Mind, I: "Encyclical Letter of.Our Hoiy Father Pius~X." (For the original text see Acta Sanctae Sedis, XXXVI, 129,139.) .(D) "'ll fermo proposito,'" in Acta Sanctae Sedis, XXXVII, 741-767. (See also The Pope and The People, 189-201, for an English translation of most of this apostolic letter.) .(E) The Tablet, CVI, 17~ "Correspondence: Rome." (F) A Manu.al oi Catholic Action, by Luigi Civardi. Translated by C. C. Mar-tindale, S.J. Sheed and Ward, New York, 1943. (See pages 12-45 .for a cursory-view of Pius X's in.fluence on the later development of Catholic Ac-tion.) ~(G)" Life of ~itts'X, by F. A. Forbes. Kenedy, New Y~rk, 1918. (Quotation i~ used here with the permission of the publishers.) (I'I) The Catbollc Mind, II, 3-10: "Popular Catholic Action.". (See also Acta Sanctae Sedis, XXXVII~ 339~345.) (I) "'Acecbo Nimis'" in the Acta 8anctae Sediso XXXVII. (d) .The Tablet, CXVI, 402-7: "The Pope and 'Le Sillon.' "''(See also Acta Apostolicae Sedis, II, 607.-33.)- (K) The Catholic. Mind, VIII: Encyclical.on St. Charles Borromeo. (L) "The Soul of the Apostolate., by~ J. B. Chautard. Translated by 3. A. Mo~ ran, S.M. The Mission Press, Techny, I11., 1945. (The quotation is used here with the permission of the Abbey of Gethsemani.) (M) What Does'the Pope Say About Catholic Action? Pellegri~i, Sydney,' Aus-tralia, 1937. See also Fundamental Pci~ciples of Catholic ACtion, by Fer-na~ nd Lelotte, S.2. Translated by ,J. P. Kelly. Australian National Sect. of Catholic Action, Melbourne. (This lafter book is soon to be published by The Ap0stolate Press, South Bend, Ind.)' 16 Splri :ual Readings rom :he Council Tren!:--II!* Augustine Klaas, S.J. Sacrament of Penance: Necessitg~ and Institution ~F IN ALL thos~ regenerated such gratitude were given toGod that they constantly safeguarded the justice received in baptism by His bounty,.: and grace, there would have been no need for another sacrament beiides that of baptism to be instituted for the remission of sins. But since God, rich in merc~l (117), knoweth our frame (118). He has a remedy of life even to those v~ho may after baptism have delive'red themselves up to the s~rvitude of sin and the power of the devil, namely, the sacrament of penance, by which the benefit of Christ's death is applied to those who have fallen after b.aptism. Penance was indeed, necessary.at all times for all nien who had stained themselves by mortal sin, even for those who desired to be cleansed by" the sacrament of baptism, in order to obtain grace and justice; so that their wickedness being renounced and amended, they might with a hatred of.sin and a Sincere sorrow of heart detest so great an offense against God. Wherefore the Prophet says: Be converted and do penance for all gout "iniquities, and iniquity shall not be gout ruin. (.119) The Lord also said: Except you do penance, you shall all likewise perish (120); and Peter the Prince of the Apostles, recom-mending penance to sinners about to receive baptism, said: Do pen- ¯ ance and be baptized every one of you. (121) Moreover, neither before the coming of Christ was penan.ce a sacrament nor is it such since His coming to an~rone before baptism. But the Lord then espe-cially instituted the sacrament of penafice when, after being risen from the dead, He breathed upon His disciples, and said: Receive ge the ']-Ioly Ghost, whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them, and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained. (122) The con-sensu~ of all the Fathers has always acknowledged that by this,action so sublime and words so clear the power of forgiving and retaining 117) Ephesians 2:4 119) E~echiel 18:30 121) Acts2:38. 118) Psalms 102:14 120) Luke 13:5 122) John 20.:22 f *Selected from H. J. Schroe_der, O.P., Canons and Decrees of the Council of T~ent, (St. Louis, Herder, 1.94 I). 17 AUGUSTINE KLAAS sins was gi-v.en to the Apostles and their lawful successors for recon-ciling the faithful who have fallen after baptism, and the Catholic Church with goo.d reason repudiated and condemned as heretics the Novi~tians, who of old stubbornly denied that power of forgiving. (123) Penance Differs from Baptism ¯ Besides, it is clear: that this sacrament is in many respects different from baptism, For apar~ from the fact that in matter and form, which constitute the essence of a. sacrament, it differs very widely, it is beyond question that the minister of baptism need not be a judge, since the Church exercises judgment on no on~ who has not entered it through the gate of baptism. For what have I'to do, says St. Paul, to judge them that are without? (124) It is o~herwise with regard to those who are of th~ household of the faith, whom Christ the Lord has once by the laver of,baptism made members of His own body. (125). For these, if they should.afterward have defiled themselves by some crime, He wished not to have cleansed by the repetition of bap-tism, since that is in no manner lawful in" the Catholic Church, but to be placed as culprits before-this tribunal that by the sentence of the priests they may be absolved, not only once but as oft}n a~s, r~pentant of the sins'committed, they should turn themselves thereto. More-over, the.fruit of baptism is one thing, that c~fpenance another~ For By baptism we put on Christ ~126) and are made in Him an entirely new creatu're, receiving a full and complete remission of all sins; to which newness and integrity, however, we aie by no means able to arrive by the sacrament of penance without many tears~and labors on our part, divine justice demanding this, so that penance has rightly .been called by the Holy Fathers a laborious kind of baptism. This sacr~iment of penance is for those who have fallen after baptism neces-sary for salvation, as baptism is for those who have not yet been regenerated. Forms and Fruits of the" Sacrament The holy council teaches further,more, that the form of the sacra-ment of penance, in which its efficacy chiefl.y consists, are those words of'the minister: I absolve thee, etc., to which are indeed laudably added certain prayers according to the custom of holy Church, which, 123) Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., VI, c. 43 124)"See I Corinthians 5:12 125) I Corinthians i2:13 126) Galatians 3:27 JanuaGI, 1946 READINGS FROMTRENT however, do not ~)y any means belong to the essence of the form nor are they necessary for the administration of the sacrament.But th~ acts of the penitent himself, namely, contrition, confession and satis-faction, constitute the matter of this sacrament, which acts, inasmuch as. they are by God's institution required in the pe.nitent for the integrity o'f the sacrament and-for the full and complete remission of sins, are for this reason called the parts of penance.~ B~ut that Which is signified and produced by this sacrament is, so far as its force and efficacy are concerned, reconciliation with God, which sometimes,.in persons who are pious andwho receive this ~acrament with devotion, is wont to be followed by peace and serenity of conscience with an exceedingly great consolation of spirit. ' Contrition Contrition, which holds the first place ~mong the aforesaid' acts of the penitent, is a sorrow of mind and a detestation for sin com-mitted with the purpose of not sinning in the future. This feeling of contrition was at all times necessary for obtaining the forgiveness of sins and thus indeed it prepares one who has failen after baptism'for the remission of sins, if it is united .with" confidence in the divine mercy and with the desire to perform the other things that are reqtiired to receive this sacrament in the proper manner. The holy council declares therefore, that-this contrition implies not only an abstention from sin and the res61ution and beginning of a new life, but also a hatred of the old, ac~:ording to the statement: Cast away from yo.u all your transgressions by which you have transgressed, and make to yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. (127) And certainly l~e who has pondered those lamentatiohs of the saints: To ~thee only have I sinned, and have done evil before thee (128) ; I have labored.in my groanfngs,'everg night I will washmg bed (129); I will recount to thee all rny years in the bitterness of my soul (I 30), and others of this kind, will easily understand that they issued from an overwhelming hatred of their past life and from a profound detestation of sins., The council teaches furthermore, that though it happens sometimes that this contrition is perfect through charity and reconciles man to God before this sacrament is actually, received, this recon.ciliation, nevertheless, is not to be ascribed to the contrition 127) Ezechiel 18:31 128) Psalms 50:6. 13:0) lsaias 38:15 129) Psalms 6:7 19 AUGUSTINE KLAA8 Revie~v [or Religious itself, without a desire of the sacrament, which desire is included in it. As to imperfect contrition, which is called attrition, since it com-monly arises either from the consideration of the heinousness of sin or from tile fear of, hell and of punishment, the council declares that if it renounces the desire tO sinand hopes for pardon, i~ not only does not make one a hypocrite and a greater sinner, but is even a gift of God and an impulse of the Holy Ghost, not indeed as already , dwelling ~n the p.enitent, but only moving him, with which assistance the_peditent prepares a way for himself unto justice. And though with.out the sacrament of penance it cannot per se lead the sinner to justification, it does, howev.er, dispose ~im to obtain the grace of God in the sacrament of penance. For, struck salutarily by .this fear, the Nini¢ites, moved by the dreadful preaching of Jonas,-did penance and o" obtained mercy fro~m the Lord. (131) F~lsely therefore do some accuse Catholic writers,, as if they maintain that the sacrament .of penance confers grace without any pious exertion on the part of those receiving it, something that the Church of God has never taught br ever accepted. Falsely also do their assert that contrition is extorted and forced, and notfree and voluntary. Confession From the institution of the sacrament of penance as already explained, the universal Church has always understood that the complete, confession of sins was also instituted by the Lord and is divine law 'necessary for all who have, fallen after baptism (132): because our Lord Jesus Christ, when about to ascend from earth to heaven, left behind Him'priests, His own vicars (133), as rulers and judges, to whom all the mortal sins into which the faithful of Christ may have fallen should be brought in order that ~hey may, in virtue "of the power of the keys, pronounce the sentence of remission or retention of sins. For it is evident that priests could not have cised this judgment without.a knowledge of the matter, nor could they have observed justice in imposing, penalties, had the faithful declared their sins in general only and not specifically and one .by one. From whi.ch it is clear that all mortal sins of which they have kno.wl-e. dge after a diligent self-examinatiom must be enumerated by .the penitents in confession, even though they are most secret and have 131) Jonas 3:5; Mat-thew 12":41 : Luke l 1:32 132) Luke 5:14; 17:14; Idohnl:9 133) Matthew 16:19: John 20:23 Januar~l, 1946 READINGS FROM TRENT been cohamitted 0nly.against the last two precepts of the Deca-logue (i34); which sins sometimes injur~ the soul more grievously arid are more dangerous than those.that are committed openly. Venial sins, on the other band, by which we are not excluded from the grace of God and into which we fall more frequently, though the~ may be rightly and profitably and without any presumption declared in con-fission, as the practice of pious people evinces, may, nevertheless, be omitted without guilt and can be. expiated by many other remedies. But since all mortal sins, even those of thought, mak~ men children ot: wrath ('135) and enemies of God, it is necessary t6 seek pardon of all of them from God by an open and humble confession. While. therefore the faithful of Christ strive to confess all sins that come to their memory, they no doubt lay all of them before the divine mercy for forgiveness; while those'v~ho do otherwise and knowingly con-ceal certain ones, lay nothing before the divine goodness to be for-given through the priest; for if one sick be ashamed to make known his wound to the physician, the .latter does not remedy what he does not know. It is evident furthermore, that.thbse circumstances that change the species of the sin 5re also to be explained in-confession, for without }hem the sins themselves are neither integrally set forth by the p~nitent nor are they known to the judges, and it would be imtSossible for tfiem to estimate rightly the grievousness o~'the crimes. and to impose the "punishment due to the penitents on account of them. Hence it is unreasonable to teach that these circumstances have been devised by idle men, or that one circumstance only is to be con-fessed, namely, to have sinned against another. It is also malicious to say that ,confession, commanded to be made in this manner, is impos-sible, or to call it a torture of consciences: for it is known that in the Church nothing else is required of penitents than that each one, after he has diligently examined himself' and searched all the folds and corners of his conscience, confess those sins by which he remem-bers to have mo~tally offended his Lord and God; while,the other sins of which he has after diligent thought no recbllection, are unde~- stood to bein a general way included in the same confession; for which sins we confidently say with the Prophet: From rag secret sins cleanse me, 0 Lord. (136) But the difficulty of such a confession and the shame of disclosing the sins might indeed appear a burden-some matter, if it were not lightened by so many and so great advan- 134) Deuter_onomy 5:21 135) Ephesians 2:3 136) Psalms 18:13 AUGUSTINE KEAAS Review for Religious rages and consolations, 'which are most certainly bestowed by abso-lution upon all who approach this sacrament worthily. Moreover, as regards the manner of confessing secretly to a priest alone, although Christ has not forbidden that one may in expiation for his crimes and for his own humiliation, for an example to others as well ~ts for the edification of the Church thus scandalized, confess his offenses pub-licly, yet this is not commanded by divine.precept; nor would it be very prudent to enjoin by human law that offenses, especially ~ecret ones, should be divulged by a public confession. Wherefore, sifice secret sacramental confession, which holy Church has used from the beginning and still uses, has always been recommended by the.most holy and ancient Fathers with great and unanimous agreement, the empty calumny of those who do not fear to teach that it is foreign to the divine command, is of "human origin and owes its existence to the Fathers assembled in the Lateran Council, is convincingly disproved. For the Church did not through the~Lateran: Council decree that the faithful "of Christ should confess a thing that she recognized as of divine law and necessary, but that the precept of confession should be complied with by each and all at least once a year when they have attained the age of discretion. Hence the salutary custom of con- .re[sing during that sacred and most acceptable period of Lent is now observed in the whole Church to the great benefit of the souls of the faithful, which custom this holy council completely indorses and sanctions as pious and worthy of retention. Satisfaction Finally, in regard to satisfaction, which of all the parts of pen-ance, just as it is that which has at all times been recommended to the Christian people by our Fathers, so" it is the one which chiefly in our age is under the high-sounding pretext of piety assailed by those who ~ave an appearance, of piety, but have denied the power thereof (137), ~he holy council ~leclares that is absolutely false and contrary to the'word of God, that the guilt is never remitted by the Lord' without the entire punishment being remitteff also. For clear and outstanding ex.amples.are found in the "sacred writings (138), by which, besides divine tradition, this error is refuted in the plainest manner. Indeed the nature of divine justice seems to demand that 137) See II Timothy 138) Genesis 3:16 f; 20:11 f; II Kings 3:5 Numbers 12:14 f; 12:13 f 22 January, 1946 READINGS FROM TREN~T those who throhgh ignorance have sinned before baptism 1~ received into grace in one manner, and in another those who, after having been liberated from the servitude of sin. and of the devil, and after having received the gift of theHoly Ghost, have not feared knowingly to violate °the ¯temple of God" (139) and to grieve the Holy Spirit. (140) And it is :in keeping with divine clemency that sins be not. thus pardoned us without any satisfaction, lest seizing the occasion and considering sins as trivial and offering insult and affront to the. Holy Spirit (141) we should fall into graver ones. treaguring up to ourseloes wrath against the day of wrath.-(142) For without doubt, these satisfactions greatly restrain from sin, check as it were with a b.it, and make penitents more cautious and vigilant in the future; they also remove remnants of sin, and by acts of the opposite " - ' virtues destroy habits acquired by evil living. Neither was there ever in the Church of God any way held more certain to ward off °impending chastisement by the Lord than that men perform with true sorrow of mind these works of penance. (43) Add to this, that" while We by making satisfaction suffer for "our sins, we are made con-formable to Christ Jesus who satisfied for our sins (144). from whom is all our sufficiency (145), having thence also a most certain ~ledge, that if we suffer .with fiiro, we shall also be gloriI~ed with him. (1.46) Neither is this satisfaction which we discharge for our sins so our own as not to be through Christ Jesus: for we who can do nothing of ourselves as of ourselves, can do all things with the . cooperation of Him who strengthens us. (147) Thus man has not wherein to glory, but all our glorying is in Christ (148), in wl~om we live (149), in whom we merit, in whom. we make satisfaction, bringing forth fruits worthy of penance (150), which have their efficacy from Him, by Him are offered to the Eather, and through Him are a~ccepted by the Father. .The priests of the Lord must therefore, so far as reason and prudence suggest, impose s~lutary and suitable satisfactions, in keeping with the nature of the crimes and tBe ability of the penitent; o_therwise, if they should connive at sins and deal too leniently with penitents, imposing certain very light 139) See I Corinthians 3:17 140) Ephesians 4:30 141) Hebrews 10:29 142) Romans 2:5: James 5:3 143) Matthew 3:2. ~: 4:17; 11:21 144) Romans 5:10 ¯ 145) See II Corinthians 3:5 146) Romans 8:17 147) See II Corinthians 3:5 ; Philippians 4."13 148) See I Corinthians 1:31 ; II Corin-thians 10:17: Galatians 6 : 14 149) Acts 17:28 150) Matthew 3:8: Luke 3:8 AUGUSTINE KLAAS works for very grave offenses, they might° become partakers in the sins of others. But let them bear in mind that the satisfaction they impose be not only for the protection, of a new life and a remedy against infirmity, but also for the atonement and punishment of past sins; for the early Fathers al~o believed and taug.ht that the keys of the priests were bestowed not to loose only but also to bind. (151) . It.was riot°their understanding, moreover, that the sacrament, of pen-ance is a tribunal of wrath or of punishments, as no Catholic ever understood that through our satisfactions the efficacy of the merit and satisfaction of our.Lord Jesus Christ is either obscured 0r in any way diminished; but since the innovators wish to understand it sd, they teach, in ~rder to destroythe efficacy and use of satisfaction, that a new life is the best penance. It (the council) teaches furthermore that the liberality of .the divine munificence is so great that we are .able through Jesus Christ to make satisfaction to God the Father not only by punishments .vo!untarily undertaken by ourselves to atone for-sins, or by those imposed by t~e¯ judgment of the priest according to the measure of our offense, but also, and this is the greatest proof of love, by the temporal afflictions imposed by God and borne patiently by us. 151) Matthew 16:19; John 20:23 OUR CONTRIBUTORS LOUIS J. PUHL is professor of" ascetical theolbgy at the Pontifical College ,Josephinum, Worthington, Ohio. AUGUSTINE KLAAS is professor of sacramental theology; THOMAS A. O'CONNOR, of sacred oratory; MALACHI ,J. DONNELLY~, of dogmatic theology;¯and ADAM C. ELLIS, of canon law at St. Mary's College; St. Marys,~Kansas. ,JOSEPH V.SOMMERS is completing his course of theology at St. Mary's College. "WHAT'S A DOMINICAN?" ¯ Original, attractive, well-illustrated, this vocation booklet should have a wide. appeal among boys in the uppper grades and in the first years of ~high school. It will surely help many to "better know and love [the] sons of St. Dominic . [and] aspire to join their ranks." For co1~ies address Brother Bede's~ Mailbox, Dominican House of Studies, River Forest, Illinois. Irnrnaculat:e I-lead: o[ h~ary Thomas A. O'Connorl S.J. ItTHERE ~ill be peace if: . ." " - | " Th~ Queen of Peace, the M6ther of God, is speaking. The scene is a rocky, barren cove out-side a small town, sixty miles north of Lisbon in Portugal. It is ~July 13, 1917. Three shepherd children, aged ten, nine, and seven, wide-eyed in wonderrrient, are listening to a beautiful Lady who has appeared to them. She is con-fiding a great secret to them: the secret of the world's peace. It is the message of Fatima. Marg's Message God wishes to establish in the wbrld devotion-to my Immacu-- late Heart. "If people do whatI have told you, many souls will be saved and will find peace. The war [World War I] is going to end, but if people do not cease to offend God. not much time Will el~ps~, and precisely during the next Pontificate. another and more te,rrible war [Wo, rld War II] will commence. When a night illhmined by an unknown light is seen, know that it is the signal which God gives you that the chastisement of the world for its many transgressions is at hand through war, famine. and persecution, of the Church and Of the Holy Father. "To avoid this, I ask for the consecration ot:" the world to mg Immaculate Heart, and Communion in reparation on the tirst Satur-dag of each month. If my requests are h~ard, Russia will be converted and there will be peace. Otherwise, great errors will be spread throughout the world, giving rise to wars and persecutions against the Church. The gobd will suffer much. Different nations will be destroyed; but in the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me; Russia will be converted, and an era of peace will be granted to humanity. Thus spoke Our Blessed Mother. It was ari answer to ¯, 25 THOMAS A. O'CONNOR Review for Religious the Catholic w~;rld's petition for peace. After all human efforts to secure peace had failed, Pope Benedict XV instructed the bishops of the world to communicate to all his ardent desire "that recourse be made to the, Heart of Jesus, Throne of grace, and to this Throne recourse be made .through Mary . To Mary, then,, who is the M6ther of Mercy and omnipotent by grace, let loving, and devout appeal go up from every corner of the earth." ~n her honor he had ~dded to the Litany of Loretto the title "Queen of Peace." Eight days after the Holy Father had made this request, Mary appeared to the children at Fatima. There will be peace if. there is established through-. out the world devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. No matter what happens, in the end the Immaculate Heart of Mary will triumpfi. B~t the establishment and propagation of the devotion to the 'Immaculate Heart of Mary now can spare the world future.wars, suffering, and persecution. Tile Holy Father Fulfills Her Wishes On th~ 31st of October, 1942, Pope Pius XII conse-crated the world and Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. These are his words: To thee, to thy Immaculate Heart in this, humanity's tragic'hour, we consign and consecrate ou'rselves in tinion not onl~r with the Mys-tical Body of ~thy Son, Holy Mother Church, now in such suffeiing and agony in so many places and sorely tried in so many ways, but also witti the entire world, torn by fierce strife, consumed in a fire of hate, victim of its own wickedness . "Give peace to the peoples separated by error or by discord, and espdcia!ly to those who profess such singular devotion to thee and in whose homes an honored place was ever accorded thy venerated icon (today perhaps often kept hidden to await better days): biing them° back to the one fold of Christ under the one true shepherd. The Holy Fatl~er has spokeh. He has consecrated the 26 January, 1946 ~ . IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY world and Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. ' Now ¯ nations and cities, dioceses and parishes, families and indi-viduals have but to follow the lead of the Supreme Pontiff and to consecrate themselves to Mary's ImmacUlate Heart. "All the evil in the "world flows from the ignoring of God's, infinite Majesty and the complete neglect of His ¯ divine commands," Pope Pius XII once stated. The way back to God is through sinlessness and purity of life. Mary, the Immaculate One, is the way. She "our life, our ~weet-ness and our hope" is the. way to peace. The Hearts of Jesus and Mary Of all ,hearts, the most intimately united to and most closely identified with the,Sacred Heart .of Christ is the . Most Pure Heart of Mary, His Mother. It is not strange, then, that the devotion tO the Immaculate Heart of M~iry is very similar to devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. ¯ - As the physical Heart of Christ, the symbol of His love, is the object of the devotion to the Sacred Heart, so in a Simila~ manner the object to which this devotion is directed is the physical Heart of'Mary considered as the symbol of her love for God and for man. In honoring Christ's heart, we honor His divine person; and in honoring Mary's Heart, we 'honor her whole person, sifice her Heart .but symbolizes the love which motivated her whole being in every action of her life. Finally, like devotion to the Sa~red Heart, devo. ¯ tion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary expresses itself, first . in the specific practices of acts of consecration and rep~ra.-" tion, and secondly in the more generic practices 6f prayer and love and imitation of her virtues. ¯ Consecrqtton In 1899 Pope L.eo XIII, performing what .he termed ' ¯ "theogreatest act" of hi~ pontifica~e,~consecrated the whole world to the Sacred Heart. - 27 TH~31~AS A. O'CONNOR ~ . . Reoieto/or Religious' Just as when the.n.ew.ly born Church lay.helpless under the yoke of .the Ca~'sars, there ~ppeated in~ the heavens a cross, at once the sign and cause of the marvellous victory that was soon to 'follow, so today before o.ur very eyes there appears another most happy and holy sign, "the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, crowned by a brilliant cross set amid raging flames. In this Sacred" Heart. we shall place all our hopes; .from it, too, we ask and await salvatio~i. (Annum Sacrum.) The:purpose of that consecration was.to acknowledge God's supreme dominion over the whole "v(.orld and over the hearts of men. ~ndividuals consecrating themselves to the Sacred Heart voluntarily~professed this sovereignty over :¯themselves. In r~evealing this devotion to St. Marga~)et Mary, the Sacred Heart insisted more on "the immense love which He has borne to us than on His:fights over us" (Pius XI; Miserentissimus). Father Putz, S.J., says, As His dominion is one 6f lo~e and He wants submission out of love, the consecration is made to the Sacred Heart, the symbol of His love., 'Being consecrated to Him, we belong to Him in a special manner, we are placed under His special protection, we are sure of His special help 'and care. The s~me may be said; in as far as it is @plicable, of consecrating Ourselves to the Immaculate Heart Of Mary. LiKewise we may say that there has now appeareda new sign in the he~ivens. It is the radiantly beautiful, spotlessly pure, Immaculate Heart of~ Mary-~-the way to individual and world peace. The confident hope is that the whole world and each individual will consecrate himself to her Immaculate Heart and thus accomplish the purpose of theworld's consecra-tion tothe Sacred Heart, namely, that the "whole ~orld¯ will submit joyfully and willingly to th~ easy. yoke Of ':~hrist the King," and that the "fruits of,,the consecration will be to °bind With Chriatian love in the communion of pe, ace all peoples to the heart of the Ki~g, of Kings and danuar~, 1946 " " IMM~CULA'I:EHEART OF MARY SOvereign iof Sovereigns':~ (Miserentissimus). " : ' That this i~the purpose of the consecration of the world tO the Immacul~ate Heart'0f Maryis best expressedby Pope Pius XII: , As the Church andthe entire human r~ce oweie-cohse~fated to th~ Sacred Heart of Jesus.so that in ~eposing all hope in Him, H~might become for them the sign and pledge of victory and salvation; so we in like manner¯ consecrate burselves forever ~Iso to thee and. to. thy Immaculate Heart, Our Mother and Queen, that thy love and patron-age may hasten the triumph of the Kingdom of God and that all nations, at.peace With one another and with God, m~iy proclaim thee blessed an'd with thee may raise their voices to resound from pole t6 pole in the chant of the everlasting Magnificat of glory, l~sve and gratitude to the Heart of Jesus, .where alone they can find truth, and peace. -Pope Plus XII first consecrated-the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mar'y on October" 31, 1942. That same year, on the Feast of the Immaculate Con.c.eptioni he pubiicly repeated the Act of Consecration in.St. Peter's l~asilica. The official English translation of.the" Act of Consecration was 15ublished in the REVIEW FOR RELICdOU$ in 1943, p. 71. For the private consecration Of individuals ¯ any suitable form of words sufficest Reparation Reparation is an integ~al part of the devotion, to the. Sacre'd Heart. If in the act of consecration the intention t~ exchange, as it were, for the love of tl~ Creator the love of us creatures stands out most prominently, ther~ follgws almost naturally from this another fact. namely, that if this same Uncreated I~ove has either been passed ove~ through forgetfulness .or saddened by reason of our sins, then~ we ~should repair such outrages.-. We call this duty reparation. . Therefore we must add to the act of consecration. , . an act of expia-tion, b~" means of which all our faults are blotted out (Miserentissi- When Out'Lord a~peared to St, Margaret Mary, He 29 THOM/~S A. O'CONNOR Reolew for "Religious .asked that ~he Feasf of the Sacred Heart be established in .reparation for the sin~ of men, and t~ practice Of the nine -First Fridays .followed from the twelfth of His promises. Similarly in the devotion to the .Immaculate Heart Of Mary, reparation is an integral part. When Our Blessed Mother appeared ~.to the shepherd children, she s~iid: "I ask'f0r.the consecration of the world to my immaculate Heart, and Communion in reparation ono the first, Saturday of each month." Sister Lucy of.Jesus, one of the shepherd children to. whom Our Lady api~eared, gives the words Our Blessed Mother used: ~ - My. child, behold my Heart all pierced with thorns which the blasphemies and ingratitude of men drive deeper ~t every moment. Do thou, at least try to console me, and make known to men that I promise to assist at the hour of death with the gracqs necessary for salvation all those who,. on the first Saturday of. five.consecutive months, .go to confession, receive Holy Communion, say the Rosary, and spend a quarter of an hour with me in meditating .on the fifteen mysteries of tl~e Rosary, with the object of making reparation to me. On the 13th of May, 1939, the Bishop.of Fatima caused the following to be pfiblished: "It is Our Blessed Lady Her-self Who in our tim~ has deigned to teach us this devotion to the Five First Saturdays, the object of which is to make reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary for all offences and outrages committed against. her by ungrateful men." Pra~ter and Penance ~In his encyclical, Caritate Christi Computsi, Pope Pius,XI urged upon all the Spirit of prayer and-penitential reparationas the ex.tra.ordin~ry ~emedy for the e:~tr.aordi-nary needs Of the times. Our Lady in her appearanceh to the. shepherd children recommended 'prayer and pemince. "Pray, pray very much,"' she said on August 19, "and make sacrifices for sinners~. for. many souls, go to bell because there ~0 danuar~l, 1"946 , IMMACULATE HEART OF MARk' is no one to make sacrifices for them." H(r message'in October .was similar. "She said that she was Our Lady of the Rosary," the children testified, "and their we must repent of our sins, "change our lives, and no longer offend Our Lord, who-is so much offende!!" The prayer she recomme.fided most was the Rosary. Pope Plus XII, in his radio address to Portugal, dwelt on the same needs. After recalling that it is proper to have confidence in Mary, he added: But, lest this confidence,be presumpt~uous, it is necessary . . . for us to listen to the maternal advice she g;~ve at the wedding of Cana and do everything that, Jesus tells us to do. And He tells us all to do penance . to amend our lives, and to flee from sin, which is the principal cause of the terrible punishments with which Eternal Jus-tice is afflicting the world . [He bids us] to be the salt that~pre2 serves and,the light that iilumines, to cultivate purity and to show forth in our manner of life the austerity of the Gospel . More still, [He tells us] . to diffuse around us, near and far, the perfume of Christ, and by constant prayer --- especially the daily Rosary--as well as by such sacrifices as zeal inspires, to win for sinful souls the life of grace and eternal happiness . Sorrowful in her foresight of th'~s great misfortune with which the Justice of God is punishing the world, Mary has pointed out that the way to save the world is by prayer and penance . Martj Omnipotent by Grace¯ We should be most eager and fervent in our devotio~ to the Immaculate Heart of Mary because, as the Mother of God and our Mother, all graces, gifts, and favors come to us from G~d through Mary¯ She is the Mediatrix of all graces. She is omnipotent by grace. Hence it was that Benedict XV wrote on May 5, 1917: Because all graces which the Author of every good deigns to distributg ¯ . . are., dispersed by the hands of the most holy V~irgin, we ~;ish the petitions of her most afflicted children to be directed with lively confidence., to the great Mother'of God . . . To Mary, then, who .31 THOMAS A. O'CONNOR is the Mother of Mercy and omnipotent .by~ grace, let loving and devout appeal go up from every corner of the earth." Pope .Pius ~XI, concluded his encyclical Miserer~tissirnus with an act of confidence "in her intercession with ~lesus . . . who wished to associate His own Mother with Himself as the advocate of sinner~, as the dispenser and mediatrix of grace." This same note of confidence in Mary was expressed by Pope Plus XII in his radio address to the people of Portugal, in which he consecrated the wo~rld to the Immaculate Heart of Mary: .Toda~-, . . there remains to us only confidence in God and, as in intermediary before "the divine throne, in her whom one of our prede.cess0rs during the first world war invoked as the Queen of Pefidd. " Letus invdke her again, for she alone can help us! . . . " Queen 0f'the Most Holy Rosary, Hell0 o~ Christians, .Refuge of the~Human Race, Victress in all God's battles, we humbly prostrate Oursdves before thy thron~, confident,that we shall obtain mercy, and- ~eceive grace and bountiful 'assista'fice 'and protection in the present chlamity, not fhrough ou, r own inadequate merits, but solely' through ith.e, great go0dfiess of thy Maternal heart . Queen of Peace, pray for us. and give to the world at war the peace for which all people are longing, peace in thetruth, justice, and charity of Christ. Give peace to the warring; nations and'to the souls of men, that in the tranquillity of order the Kingdom of God may prevail. Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us! INDEX OF BAC~K NUMBERS REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS is indexe~l in the CATHOLIC PERIODICAL "INDEX. Con-tent~ of previous issues can be found by consulting the Readers' Gu.ide in your library. 32 The Magnetic Power 0t: Chris!: Malachi ~l.Donnelly, S.J, AS CHILDREN we .all played with an iron magne.t, and later, when we studied physics in high school, we perfdrmed experiments with the magnet. It was ", put under a piece of paper and upon the surface of this paper were scattered particles of iron dust. As we tapped the paper gently, we saw the tiny bits of iron arrange them selves in a definite pattern around the poles of the magne.t. We learned that between all the particlesthere was an inter~ play and exchange of magnetic power. Hence, they were not isolated units, bu.t closely interrelated and continually receiving and exercising magnetic influence. Further, all the power they had of influencing the.surrounding iron - particles all this came from the central magnet, their only. power-source. Finally, the-power of each tiny.iron filing depended on (1) its nearness to the.magnet, as source_of power; and'(2) its freedom from base alloys, which might render the iron particle less susceptible to the magnetic influence of the central source. With this illustration ~well in mind, let us consider briefly the religious life and especially ,the influence which every religious should exert on the world about him. Above all, the religious should realize the source of his power and what he must do that this power be his in the highest degree possible. This realization is of the greatest importance today, when everyone is talking, about post-war reconstruction and when even secular leaders are beginning to recognize the l~act that a material rebuilding will be of MALACHI J. DONNELLY " Reoiew [or Religigus little avail v~ithout a renewal of spiritual forces. Religious. .must,. and can,-play a major part in this post-war spiritual recopstruction, as we hope that the following, paragraphs " 'will illustrate. The life of _religious is not a fleeing from life. Nor, again, is it a mere repression of powerful life-tendencies. And, finally, it is not an utter abandonment of the world of human beings 6utkide the cloistered wall. Rathdr, the religious life is truly a fleeing towards, life, towards 'that source of all life, 3esud Christ, who has said of Himself, :"I am. the Life." Far from. repressing vital instincts, " the~teligious'life assures, thoiigh in a higher Spherel their full development. The religious life must mean a love-seeking, a love-search, but for God and men in God. This means that all true life-tendencies, tlhouglhts, will-acts (.yes, ~motions, too)--the whole human being must be 'vitally ~oncerned with this loving quest of God. ., From the psychological pc~int of view, such a life should never resultS in "crabbiness," neuroses of various kinds, or crippling inhibitions. The religious do~s not live a vacuum L life. He me~ely takes one ointment (indeed, good in itself) . frorfi the e:~rthly ~¢essel that it may be replaced by a" more precious perfume. True, if it does not attain its posit.ive p~rfection, such a life might well rest~lt in mere inhibitions and a consequent unwholesome, if not downright neurotic, frame:of mind. With regard to women in particular, this is well expressed in an excellent modern study: If we religio~s women fail to cultivate love on the high level of the supernatural, if we permit our love to center in self, we shall deteriorate in our spiritual .life and become objects o~f disedification within and without our convent wails. In the married state, as Wife and m~ther,a woman unfolds love, tenderness and co~apassion. In. " religious life, the sources of natural de, velopment are closed to her.She is" expected to-unfold love ori a supernatural level love for her , Divine Spouse and for the members of His Mystical Body. danuary~ 1946 MAGNETId POWER OF CHRIST If sh~ fai|S to cultivate this love; she be¢0m~s devoid of-all love, excepting self-love, which expresses itself in seeking morbid .h.um~an affections. She sinks into a condition that is not proper to her nature. The-finer qualities of he~ being dry up for want of fost.ering care. She becomes uhnatural in hard and exclusive selfishness.I But,.if lived as a positive, full-s6uled (-and ffill-hea~ted)i seard~i.ng f~r God, t~e hidden" l~i~e of the religious can never be.other thana fuller perfe~ti0n anti more complete dev~l~ opmentof human nature, of soul and of body, of the entire man. With attention now drav)n to the positive side of the religious life,.let us see what'eff~ct a relig!ous life WellAived can have on the world about us. Perhaps tile answer may be found in a consideration Of the religious and the Mystical Body of Christ. As we all know, the Mystical Body is truly liying and organic: Bodily life. is the power-of perfective, self-movement in an organism. It depends on nourishment 'from outside the living body, on food which through assimilation becomes part of the body and .supplies .the power by. which the living organism" directs itself in organic movement towards a definite end. Again, an o~ganism is made up of.heterogeneous parts. different in shape, and function, each of .which finds own perfection in working t~wards the good of the Whole .bqdy. And througho_ut the individual organs there flows the common life of the complete body. The life of the Mystical. Body is sanctifying grace, that divine life shared by men and poured forth into our souls by the Holy S~irit who is given to us. From the Holy Spirit, who is breathed forth into our souls by Father and " Son, ~omes our created Share of that same diC, ine life which 1Two Sisters of Notre Dame, Soul Clinic (New York and Chicago: Pustet. 1943). pp. 10-11. For a review of this excellent book. confer REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, II. p, 130. 35 MALACHI'J. DONNELLY " Reoieto /or Religious the three.divine Persons possess as identified, with theirown Persons. " - The life-movement of the Mystical Body is nourished by the in-take and assimilation of thi~ Christ-life, divine grace. Gra~e perfects the individual member and then, like the color of health,radiates out through the entire Mystical .Body and brings with it a health-restoring, or, as the case may be, a life-perfecting power. The movement of the members, or organs, of the Body will be an organic, hence corpo.rate movement towards God, the final end, the highest .good of the entire Body. As !.iving members of the Mystical, Body, we religious are, like ir0n-filings With respect to the central ma.gnet, grouped around Christ, our source of spiritual power. All the sup.ernatural efficiency we ba.v.e comes from Him, the uhique source. As members of Christ's Body, we receive and give off power, spiritual power received fro~ Christ the Head of the Body. Our sup,e.rnatural power .and efficiency depend on two things; (1) our nearness to Christ the sourcd of this power, and (2) the absence of base alloy in o~r sduls, that is, self-love and pridemin a word, the absence of worldliness, which implies a most subtle blending o.f pride and sensuality. ~ The communication of this divine lif~ to men is not a blind, necessary process. Christ does not force His life upon men. If men are to receive the life that ~lesus Christ came into the world .to give, they must freely respond to the, life-call. And here it is that we must look for the part played by the religious in post~war reconstruction. ~lust as iron-filings .far removed from the central .mag-net get magnetic'power only t~rough the intervening par- , ticles of iron which are closer to the magnet, so, too, in the ordinary,ways of God with men, the divine life, sanctifying grace, is given to men through the aid of other human January, 1946 MAGNETIC .POWER OF' CHRIST beings. ¯ This does not~mean that'men actually, give grace to others. But it doesmean that, ordinarily, the interior soul;life', divine grace, is given largely in'dependence upon external graces-offered directly through a fellow human being. How does this take place? In exa~t proportion as you keep close to 3esus Christ, your Source, will you get power~ and~ life. You know that worldliness is the, only real obstacle that can keep the divine life f~m flooding the inmo'st parts of. your soul. You know that,,by destroying self-love, by loving Chris~, by being, ambitious df the last place .in your Community to be in the first place i~ear~st Christ--you know that 'it is thus that y.ou Open the flood-gates for the rush of the divine life that is surging agalnst your soul. Add a real spirit of praye~ and what results? ~ Simply this: life floods.your souL. t~ut not to remain damm.ed up there.- No, like a riv~er in springtime," this life will overflow and flood all around you. Fill~d with ~this diyine life, you will benign to renew the face 'of the earth. You will bring one~essary external graces to a world hun-gering for divine life. Certainiy~, as even the unbeliever, George Bernhrd Shaw, maintained, the most powerful force in the world is personal example. And when this personal .example is the .overflo.w from intense love "of God, what must not its force be! Your own transformed life will bring to others, however faintly, the Very beauty of'Christ's own life, And there is-noth!ng that so wins.even the heart of the most hardened sinner as seeing Christ reflected .in a fellow human being of flesh and blood. The religious does not lead an in~sulated life, like a moth in a cocoon. If one rfiay Use a homely expbession, the ~reli-gious does not ride to heaven in an enclosed compartment. NO, he ride~ the coaches; and they aie crowded with fellow travelers hungeriiag for the life which you can give them. MALACHI J. E)ONiqEI~L~! ReoieW fo~ Reli0iou,~ TO "each person with whom you comeAn contact an infl'u.- - ence'goes forth from'y0u. And the real wortlawhileness o'f tha~.:infltience~, its spiritual value, is p~oportined to "your nearness to Christ." " 7~g.ain, it is well to remember that our workois the york of~Christ operating through us., We are really instruments in His hands. And, we all know that ~he effect produced by an instrument depends not .only 'on the dignit~y of the one ,using the instrument. " In order-to write well. the pen mus,t baste a good point, the ink mu~st notbe muddy. : Otherwise scratching and blottingappear. :'In similar mannevChrist ~ will not work ~ffectively th.rough the religious, if he as a f011o.wer of Christ does not condition and prepare himself to bi~ a good instrument in the hands of Christl Many there are, perhal3s. Who, in the eternM designs ~f God' will" ~r~directly owe their salvation' to you i*nd to you alon~. If you'rende.r yourselffit ?orpassing on the divine .life' in your own soul to others, then yo.u w~ll really save-souls. " : Surely, then, it is true that the-religious close to Christ will do much ~in the post-war reconstruction. Fbr brick ahd ste.el, bombs arid ta'nks are not what this world needs ~to insure a lasting peace.- What the world needs is a spiritual catharsis, a'complete soul-purging. And only the gra~e ~f " God can do this. That is the one and only all-out essential for mankind. And the one who can best.secure and apply this specific, this healer of the wounds of the world, is the fervent religious. Through the Christ,loving r~ligi6us. through the religious in close contact with Our Lo'rd, the" Christ-lif~ goes out to men. " In the classroom, the pupils will ,see in thkir instructor not just a human teacher, but rather one who,reflects Christ. And not only will the power of the religious teacher be increased, but the students will be impelled to seek after the- 38" January, 1946 MAGNETIC POWER OF CHRIST source bf the beautiful power that shines forth from their instructor. ' ° ~ In the hospital, the patients,~ Staff"members, arid ififei~nS, ~he o.r~lerlies,, the kitch~en help, and the janitors all will See in the religious, ' not .just a nurse, but a mirror ofChrist Who healed bodies ithat men might¯ v~ith this renewed healthalso get new life for their souls. Everywhere, then, in orphanages, in homes¯ for the a~ged7 eveffin the hidden life of¯the kitchen,-~his Christ-life must be.found pulsatirig in the soul of the religious. And from the religious this life must go forth to the world.For this Christ-life alone can renew the face of the. world, alone can effect a lasting reconstruction and a lasting peace among men. BOOKLET.NOTICES FIELD AFAR PRESS, 121 East 39th Street, New York, N. Y. Mar~.tknoll Mission Letters. Volume II, 1945. 50 cents. This ~dition of .the .Mission Letters¯ includes the-Mgryknoli Superior General's_ report on his recent visitation of the missions in China, a letter describing the . life and work of Father Rauschenbach. and the eulogy preached at the funeral Mass for Father Cummings---originator of "There are no atheists in fox-holes." Besides there are the usual interesting and informative letters from Maryknollers in China, the Philippines, and Ceniral and South America. THE NEWMAN BOOKSHOP, Westminster, Maryland. The Catholic Doctor and Catholics on the Police Force. both by Francis J. Con-nell, C.S.S.R. (Brief ~xplanations of the-moral obligations of doctors and policemen respectively). 15 cents each. GRAYMOOR PRESS, Peekskill, New York, Tale o: a Troubador. by Samuel Cummings, S.A. (A brief life of St. Francis of Assisi'). I0 cents. MONASTERY OF THE PRECIOUS BLOOD, 54thStreet and Fort Hamilton Parkway, Brooklyn 19, New York. Fighting Our Spiritual Enemies, 10 cents; O~w Warfare on the Spiritual Front, 5 cents. Both by a Sister of the Pre.cious, Blood. (The first of these booklets is intended for religious only; the second for lay people). " , THE CAMPION PRESS. 1184 Phillips Place, Montreal, Canada. Rosaries [or Russia: Little Meditations on the Rosary, by Magnus Seng. I 0 cents. "'PROSVITA-ENLIGHTENMENT'.' 61 I- Sinclair Street. McKeesport, Penna., and "AMER. RUSSKY VIESTNIK" Greek Catholic Union Bldg., Munhall, Penna. The Major Holy-Days (Greek Rite.). by the Reverend 3ulifis Gi-igaisy, D.D., and the Reverend Stephen Loya. N6price given. ¯ ommun ¢a!: ons - [NOTE: With regard'to communications published, the only" r~sponsibility ¯assumed by the editors, is to see that the letters contain nothing contrary to the approved teaching of the Church in matters of faith and morals. The opinions expressed in the communications should be judged on their own merits.] Reverend Fathers: You said you would welcome communications describing obstacles encountered in working for interracial justice. I want to outline a situation that constitutes such an obstacle. There is a Catholic high scho~l for. girls (one only) iffa.certain city: .t.he city's population is one-fifth Negro and one-half or more ~Catholic. ¯ The Sisters of this school are eager to do all they can to~ bring the blessings of higher Catholic education to the colored as well as the white ~girls of high school age. They long for converts among the colored, among whom the Church is little known. What can they do? Prejudice runs high ¯ in this town. But the nuns are not afraid of prejudice. They tell themselves, at least, that thdy would rather be lynched, with the col-ored than lynch with the white. They say, "We would,ripen our - halls to colore~l girls this afternoon, and remove .the lie which our doctrine of the Mystical Body of Christ, taught but not practiced. m~kes us live. But we have not the auth6rity of the clergy behind us." These Sisters talk racial justice in season and out Of season. They "teach a unit on it to every religion student. They write articles, give and have students give speeches, hold interracial panels, and urge girls, to take part in interracial retreats. And then they realize, in a cold sweat, that they are teacbihg their students that, as a matter of fact. o the local clergy are not bei.ng true to their pastorates. For it is known that the priests consider these .Sisters imprudent, not to say misled. And when the schedule o'f sermons calls for a sermon on brdtherly love. every pastor in the city talks about hating Japanese, of whom there are none in the city. or Germans, whom. they do not hate: but no pastor so much as mentions the Negroes-living just three or four blocki away in a shantied Africa that is largely the direct[ result of white oppr.ession, mistrust, and. in many cases, white hatred. Who would say that these Sisters are not, though with the best of intentions, forced either to deny the doctrine of the Mystical Body in practice by refusing Catholic secondary education to a portion of 40 'COMMUNICATIONS the Catholic population because of color; or, on the dther hand~ to prepare the way for the rending of tl~at same Mystical Body by teaching doctrines their students do not see upheld by.the ecclesiastical ~uthorities? Now everybody knows that many a Catholic diocese is not up a~ainst such.a prgblem as this. In many places the ecclesiastical supe-riors are backing fully and with Christ-like zeal the work of zealous lovers of racial jus~tice. But it is not done everywhere; and the tragic urievenness of the thing hu~ts. I suggest that your readers pray earnestly that the spiritual authorities will back us urffforrnl~t ,and ev, eryu)here so that the souls of our Negro brethren may not go on-languishing because loyalty to ecclesiastical authority keeps us from acting fully and with all our resources in their favor. " Sister Reverend Fathers: Father Coogan is right (REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, ,November 15, 1945): "Hopes for a racially,~better day lie largely with religious, especially teachers." To. begin liquidating these l~opes many religious can within obedience use their.ingenuity about fostering the Christian attitude, They find opportunities, many or f~wer according to local circumstances, of influencifi'g their students. They can always give good example. They can a.t.the fight, moment encourage and direct classroom discussions: they can at time~s inspire their students through direct instruction and exhortation. ~ " The students are ge.nerally far ahead of their eiders, both parents and teachers, on matters interracial. "School strikes just don't hap-pen, unless the youngsters themselves are certain of being supported by parents, and even by teachers and pastors. ,.lanie and 2ohnny stand in no "picket lines once they hear an unmistakable order from home to '.'Get back into that school building!" The kids will squeal t~ the crooning of a generous, well-intentioned Sinatra; but a,snappy. rebuke from Dad packs more authority than an old-fashioned truant o~_cer. . ~ We were carrying on a discussion in my sophgmore class about the advisability of admitting Negroes to theschool, a private, academy for boys in a large Mid-Western city. Two or threeloud voices were" adamant, but the group all in all was very' favorable. -The discus, sion, however, was brought to a premature end by this p-olitely . 41 COMMUNICATIONS intoned comment: "If we're real Catholics, Father, we have to !~ C61ored boys into the school, The fellowss~em to agree on that. So it's.up'to the school authorities to talk'about it and do something." Since then two Negroes have been admitted and are-doing well. So is the school. Many authorities are in a position, to do mort by way of effective planning f6r Negro students. Those institutions which do havea "token attendance"i could'in many cases go a ~tep further by positively encouraging well qualified Colored youth--inviting them to scholar-ship competitions, personally canvassing their 'families, contacting Catholic pastors in Negro neighborhoods, etc. Elizabeth Adams has a poignant observation "in h~r autobio-graphical Darh Sgmphong: "Think of the number of Religious wh~) pray dail)~ to suffer--to share humiliations like those endured by. the Christ ;~ yet, if accepting a Colored child in a school or boarding home would mean financial loss to their institution, they would deny that child admittance." Truth is, Catholic schools have suffered not the siightest l~ermanent loss by accepting Negroes. Richa.r.d A. Schuchekt, S.J. West Baden, Indiana. CONCERNING COMMUNICATIONS We always welcome letters from our readers and are: eager to publish such as may prove helpful to others. However, to facilitate our work and to avoid confusion, we request that correspondents observe the following suggestions: 1. If you want your letter published, address .the envelope to: Communications Department Review for Rel;g|oui St. btary's College St. Maws, Kansas 2. If at all possible, type the letter, double-spaced. . 3. Make the letter as brief as you°reasonably can, without however sacrificing ideas for the sake of brevity,t 4.~ Sign ~rour name and ad~lres~, at the end of the letter~. If, however, you do not wiih your name and address published, add a postscript to that effect, In the past we have published some letters that were not signed, and we may do so again in the future. -However, we cannot guarantee that unsigned letters will receive the same consideration as those that are signed.--THE EDITORS. 42 The Virtue of IEquit y LouisJ. Puhl, S.J. 4~AUL, having passed through the upper country, came to Ephesus and found certain disciples; to whom be said, 'Did ye receive the Holy Spirit when ye believed?' But they answered, 'Nay, we have n0.t even heard whether there be a Holy Spirit.' " (Acts 19' 1-2.) If an examination were conducted on the virtue of equ!ty, it is safe to say that .many answers would much resemble that Of the Ephesian disciples of St. Paul. Yet St. Thomas,°in his treatment of justice in the Summa (II- _ti, q. 120, a. 1), not.only defends itsplace among the vir:. ~ues but calls it a :'superior rule of human action,'; the noblest species of justice. Equity, according, to St. Thomas, rises above the dead .letter of the law,. that killeth, and-seeks to be guided by the spirit of tl~e law. by the intention of the lawgiver. It is impossib!~ for the limited human mind so to word a law or command that it will cover every set of circumstances that may arise. The lawgiver, as St. Thomas points, out, has in mind that which happens in the majority of cases and cannot foresee the almost infinite variety of circum: stances that may at times make it impossib, le to observe the 1citer of the law. (Summa, II-II,q. 120, a. 1.) An illus'tration from obedience wil! make the-matter clear. No one could be considered obedient who by. observing the letter of the law thereby, defeats the very put.- pose and intention of the superior. St. Thomas gives a few s!mp!e and striking examples of the application of equity to the natural law. If a madman Should demand the return of a:sword he bad deposited with us, we would be bound to 43 Louis J. PUHL Reoietu for R~ligious refuse to return it. in order to protect, .the lives of others. Sho~Id~someonedemand the return of a sum of mon.ey he had ~intrusted to us, the common good would oblige us to refuse if he intended to use it to fight against his country.~ Moralists and canonists are familiar with this matter. underanother name. They commonly retain the.Gfei~k word of Aristotle, epicheia. However, they are so busy with the exceedingly complicated and ever-recurring cases. of commutative justice and taw that they do ngt.look upon. it from.the point ~of view of the virtue, as St. Thomas does~ but rather from the angle of legitimate interpretation Or exception to the law. ¯. This question has a far greater bearing on the daily lives of religious .than may at first be appa_refit. Superiors often have the duty to judge of the application of certain. laws of the. Church to tl'ieir, subjects. They should, kn~w the recognized "excusing causes" from these obligations so i:hat neither they nor'their subjects will have to bear bur-dens theywere never intended to.carry. Also they should know the legitimate exceptions to their constitutions and;. according to circumstances, should "temper these and the-- prescriptions of rule and the Orders .of:higher. superiors." - If they have no concept of duty other than the literal observance of the law, actual injustice may be done in indi-vidual circumstances and the whole purpose of the law may be defeated. They must understand that conditions ~an arise in which it is eviderit to any prudent person ~hat the lawgiver never intended the lav~ to bind. In such. gases, both the cbmmon good and justice to the individual demand that they consider the spirit Of the law and the intention of the lawgiver. Canon Sheehan wrote a beatitiful novel, "The Blindness Of Dr. Gray. Throughout the story, "It is the law," w~s the final decision of the deluded doctor, on all points. 44 danuar~l, 194~ TH, E VIRTUE OF EQUITY C_harity ~nd justice had to yield to this inexorable maxim. The blindness that affected Dr. Gray is not sd uncommon. A misguided zeal for the rule and the constitutions may _ lea~d to flagrant ifijustice against individuals. The comm6n : gobd, too, which is the ultimate, purpose of the law, may then be wholly disregarded. Even individuals may be called upon to exercise the virtue of equity. We cannot always consult, and circum-stances arise that demand immediate action. To follow the letter of the law without regard to circumstances'might do grave damage--might in fact, ac.tually reverse the intention of superiors. In such cases we should observe th~ spirit of the law and make exception to. the letter. St. Thomas quotes an old legal maxim which~states: o. "There is no doubt that he sins against the law .who embraces the letter of the law, and acts. against the willcof .the prince." (Summa, II-II, q. 120, a. 1, ad. 1.) A still greater violation of law arises at times when there is question of what are rather loosely ~alled"customs.': "It is our custom" is the maxim for se~ttling all cases, even to the extent of secretly setting aside the law of the Church and the higher laws of. natural justice and charit.y. The Code itself make~ it clear that, except for cases allowed by. the Church, nb custom can be established against the gen; eral law. The Code speaks of customs in the ;trict sense; what it saysholds with even greater force regarding those things which are customs only in the wide sense.° And the Code does not have to prescribe that.customs cannot be enforced contrary to the divi'ne laws of justice and charity. This expression, "It is our custom," is occasionally used by . both supe.riors and subjects in ways that show a misguided, " if well-meant, Zeal. Superiors sometimes use it to hinder the accomplishment of a greater good; and inferiors use it to criticize certain exceptions made by Christlike superiors. 45 LOUIS J.,,PUHL ~ Review [or Religious I~ is evident that what, is apparently the highest justice may be the gravest injustice: Summum [us, summa iniuria. Our Lord's severe.condemnation of formalism and Phari,~ saism should be earnestly pondered by all who ire' too quick to quote: "It is the law," or, "Iris our custom." In this connection the whole twenty-third chapter of the Gos-. pel accord.ing to St. Matthev~ may be meditated upon with great, profit. Fortunately, we may tak~ it for granted that there are no willfully hypocritical persons such as Our :Lord was dealing with there, but misju.dgments under the' appearanc.e o.f~good may do very great harin to others. In literal truth, those who seriously violate equity "bind. together heavy and oi~pressive burdefls and place them upon. ¯ theshoulders of others, but not with one finger of their own do they choose to move them" (Matthew 23:4.) They neglect "the .weightier ,things of the Law-~. justice and mercy and faith" (Matthew '23:23). They clean ,the out- ~ ,~ide of the cup by apparent legality and zeal for Order and yet serve injustice within the cup. "This is. really straining 9ut the.gnat but swallowing the camel. (cf. Matthew 23:24). It is no wonder that St. Thomas had the highest praise f6r equity. Without it there can be no true justice. It is a virtue c!osely akin to charity, the life and soul of all the vir-tues. It is full of Christian wisdom and prudence, full Of the spirit of Him who was meek and humble of heart, who did not break the bruised reed or quench the smokiflg flax. It looks beyond the dead letter"of the law and the lifeless :formalism of legality. It respects the dignity of man and the~purpose of the law, the good of man, which'ultimately finds its origin in the Infinite Good itself. Often both superi61s and inferiors should recall that riot all are of equal calibre, physically, intellectua.lly, ,spiritually; that they must' apply and interpret laws.and. ,lanuaryo 1946 " THE VIRTUE OF EQUITY ctistoms in the light of ;circumstances in order to practice justice; in fine, that the Virtue of equity, has an important place in our lives. Not all have the bodily strength to endure the same amount of labor or to do th.e same kind of work. Those in authority would be unjust to demand it, and our com-panions are bound not to expect it. Not all can be treated in exactly the same way under the plea of conformity to law and custom. The delicate health of one.demands more attention than others. The material needs of one in clothing and food are not .the sameas those of another.~ We must love poverty and conformity to common life, but neither of these suffers when individual .needs require more for o'neperson than for another. To follow custom or rule blindly when supplying material wants in clothing and conveniences can. result in this anomaly: .that some have far more than they need (and thereby poverty is not observed), while'others are deprived of what is necessary or convenient (and thus the obligation l~he superior assumes when the subject vows poverty into his hands is being neglected). God has not made us all alike. Superior and subjects alike must accept the will of providence and make allovc'ance for all as God has made them; or they ~in against equity. Intellectually not all are fitted for every position. God has not;given equal talent to all. To ask one to undertake a task beyond his ability under the pretext of treating all alike, is to.oppress the weak and do damage to the common~ good. Not all can have the same opportunities for intel-lectual impro~cement.~ Some are not fitted by nature and it would be vain to try to force them or for them to exigec.t it. Circumstances prevent other~ from obtaining the privi-lege. Equity demands that both those who rule and those who are ruled face ~cts, not with a rigid law and 'custom but with intelligence and the kindness of Christ. It would 47 I~0UIS J. PUHL - Review for Religious be futile to appeal to a custorri of seniority a.s giving the. right to be head of,a department, if thereby either the com-mon good or the individual be made to suffer: Equity 'is a~ virtue far above our rank in the community or the laws of sdniori~:y. - ¯ "' Spiritually not all have the:;same gifts .and advance-ment; hence, here again, subjects.and Superiors must make allowance for conditigns in applying law and customs. It would be foolish to ex~ pect the solidity of virtue in a novice that one might readily expect in a mature religious. Neither can we expect ~ev~ry novice to manifest the s~lme spiritual stature nor under the plea of uniform training indiscrimi; nately apply tests in the s~ime manner and with the same severity to all. God has not given the same grac.es t6 all, ,nor have all cooperated equally well in the past? All have not the same character and.the same difficultie's to overcome. There are times, too, when souls may find a tiial very diffi-cult, which-under normal circumstances they could bear very well; and equity talls for a wiseunderstanding of such critical' situationS. We know what happens in education when 'children are given matter beyond their years and are expected to ~pass tests not suited.to their age. The same can happen iri. the spiritual life. There are works, too, which are fraught with spiritual dangers for one but not for, another. It would be unjust to expose one tO danger under the plea of treating all alike. ~Subjects.and officials are bound to recognize these circumstances which demand interpret~ition.of law and custom if'equity is tO l~e observed. ~ Epicheia, the time-honored term for ~quity, that h;is come down to :us from the wisdom of Greece, expresses well the spirit of this virtue; and its full meaning has been taken over in Christian .practice. It. signifies something that is over and above What is strictly in accordance with law, ~6methifig su~eradded:, to mere legal justice. It signifies J~nuary, 1946 ,THE VIRTUE OF: EQUITY clemency, mer~y, reasonableness. A1Lthese meanings show how necessary this virtue is for one claiming to walk in the spirit of Christ. If we have put on Christ, we must l~ave the kindness and mercy of Christ. We must "put off the works of darkness,-, and put on the armor of light'.~ (Romans 13:12). In truth when our justice is guided by equity, we have put on the armor of light, illumined, by faith and vivified by charity. Books Received (From October 20 to December THE NEWMAN BOOK SHOP, Westminster, Maryland. Sermon Outlines for the Sundays and Holy Days of the Year. By William R. O'Connor. $2.25. Holiness for All. By .His ExcellenCy Norbert Roblchaud. 75 cents (Paper). THE BRUCE PUBLISHING COMPANY, Milwaukee. World Christianitg. By John J. Considine, M.M. ~ $1.00. The Divine Pur- ~uit. By RaChel Maria. $1.75. The Priest of the Fathers. By Edward L. Heston, C.S.C. $2.50. Going His Way: Little Talks to Little Folks. By Rev. Gerald T. Brennan. $1.75. The Man Who Built the Secret Door. Sister Mary Charitas, S.S.N.D. $1.50. B. HERDER BOOK COMPANY, St. Louis. Pascal and His Sister dacquellne. By M. V. Woodgate. $~.00. The State in Catholic Thought. By HeinriCh A. Rommen. $6.00. SHEED ~ WARD, New York. The Flowering'Tree. -By Caryll Houselander. $2.00. dobn Henry Newman. By John Moody. $3.75¯ The Catholic Centre¯ By Edward Ingrain Wat-kin. $3.00. The Splendor of the Rosary.~ By Maisie Ward¯ $2.50. FREDERICK PUSTET COMPANY, New York and Cincinnati. A Tryst with the Holy Trinity. By the Very Rev. Frederick T. Hoeger, C.S,Sp. .$2.50. CREATIVE AGE'pRESS, New York. Chungking Listening Post. By Mark Tennien. $2.50. LA LIBRAIRIE EUCHARISTIQUE, Montreal. La Piete Eucharistique. By J. F. Berube. (No price given.) CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PRESS, Washington. The Doctrine of S'r. Augustine on Sanctity. By Edward J. Carney, O~S.F.S. (No price given). - THE MARYKNOLL BOOKSHELF, l~Iaryknoll, New York. How the People of Africa Live. By Sister Miriam Claire. $1.00. LO~IC~IAN8, GREEN ~ COMPANY, New York and Toronto. Sptrttual Problems of Our Times. By Luigi Sturzo. $2.00. ¯ 49 May Religious Buy and Sell? Adam C[ Ellis, S.d. .~S A BO,Y,. Christ Our Lord learned the carpenter's~ trade from St. ,loseph; arid after the latter's d~ath, He supported Himself and Our Blessed Lady by His' l~ibo'rs at the carpenter's bench.We can infer this from the testimony of His fellow townsmen. On one of His rare visits to Nazareth, Christ went to tl~e synagogue on the Sabbath and began to'teach. '!And many.hearing Him .were in admiration of his doctrine saying: 'How came this man by all these things? and what wisdom is thisthat is given to him, and such mighty works are wrought by his hands? Is r~ot this the carpenter, the son ot: Mary?" (Mark 6:2, 3). The great Apostle of the Gentiles, St. Paul, imi-tated his Master and supported himself by manual labo_.r. He tells us: "We are homeless and we toil, workirig v)ith our own hands" (I Corinthians, 4: 12)~. And St. Luke informs us that "These two [Aquila and Priscilla] Paul visited and because he was of the same trade he abode with -them, and thus they worked; for by trade they were tent-makers" "(Acts 18:3). Inlthe early centuries'of the Chui:ch clerics and religious supported themselves by manual labor, applying themselves to trades of various kinds. The Church, therefore, has always held manual labor in high honor and has never considered it ber;eath the dign!ty of the~clericai or the religious s.tate, but rather recommended it as a worthy means of support for both clerics and tell: gious_. . From the very beginning, however, some of the clergy -found an easier way of supporting t.hemselves--by engag-ing in gainful trading. In itself, there is nothing wrong with gainful trading provided the price asked for the c0m- 50 MAY RELIGIOUS BUY AND SELL? modity traded or sold is not exorbitant. But the' exercise of gainful trading was beset with'm~iny dangerous practices and easily led to distractions from and neglect of the duties connected with the clerical and religious state. Hence are not surprised to find St. Paul warning Timothy: "No man being a soldier to God entangleth himself in secular business" (II Timothy 2:4). This warning 6f St. Paul became the watchword of the Church in .its legislation for-bidding clerics and r~ligious to engage in gainful trading. -For experience has proved that such occupation not only distracts and leads to a neglect of duty, but exposes clerics and religious to the dangerous spirit of cupidity and avarice with their consequent vices--fraud, perjury, injustke, and so forth. Besides from the practice of gainful trading there arises the danger of involving clerics and religious in civil lawsuits. All these possible dangers may r.esult in a serious diminution of the esteem of the faithful for the clerical and ~religious state and for the sacred.ministry. Hence the, need of a ~lear.understanding of the Church's law with regard to gainful trading as it applies, to religious.' PART I: THE LAW AND ITS MEANING In this matter there are~no special prescriptions that apply exclusively to religious, but canon 592 tells us that "all religious are bound to the common obligations of clerics listed in canons 124-142." The last of these canons, No~ 142, forbids clerics to engage in gainful trading. It reads as follows: "Clerics are forbidden to engage in lucrative industrial (negofiafio) or commercial (merccl~ura) trading, either personally or through others, either for their own advantage or for fhaf of others." Just what is fbrbidden by this cano_n? When are reli-gious and clerics said to be engaged in lucrative trading con- ~ trary to the law of the Church? No act of buying or selling comes unde~ the prohibition ADAM C. ELLIS Repiea~ for Religious against gainful 'trading, unless it contains ~four etem~nts simultaneousl~t.: (1) the object must be bought, (2) with tl'ie intention of reselling it, (3)unchanged or.changed, by hired help~ (4) at a higher price than Was paid for it. Let uk examine each of these four elements in detail. I. "'The object must be bought" .- It is not the property of the religious or cleric to begin with, hence he must acquire it in exchange for money or for some other commodity. Religious do. not violate -the law therefore when they sell the pro'dutts of their fields-- grain, fruits, vegetables. .They may likewise sell., wool~ hides, eggs, but~er, and milk produced by their herds and flocks, as well as calves, lambs, chickens, pigs, and other animals provided these are the natural produci of things ¯ already possessed. LikewiSe articles° received as gifts may ~ be sold, even at a great profit, since they were not purchased by the religious. 2. "'With the intention of reselling it'" ~ The reiigious who bu.ys an object or rawmaterials must intend, u2hen he bd~js them, to resell them later on. If this intention is not present at the time of purchase, then-his transaction does not come under the-prohibition of our_ canon. The religious who purchases a supply ofcommodi-" ~ ties for the use of his community does not intend to sell them. It may happen, however, that in the course of time some of the supplies are in danger of spoiling; or he may find that he has. purchased more than the community-needs. In either ca~e he may sell these supplies, even at a higher price than that he paid for them, because when he bought them he did not do so with the intention of r_eselling them. For the same reaso~ one may sell objects which have lost their usefulness fdr the com.rnunity,"such as furniture, raw materials, books, and other t.hings; and one may take a 52 MAY RELIGIOUS BUY AND SE~'.L~ _profit on them. It is. also allowed to invest the com- "munity funds in real estate, to buy ahouse or a-farm, and then to rent or lease it, thus assuring the community a source of regular .income. To rent or lease property which the commu.nity owns is ~not the same as selling it. This_ is merely an act of prudent administration required by canon 1523., 3 a. "'Unchanged" When an object is bought with the intention of s~lling it unchanged at a higher price, we have the most specific case of that strictly commercial trading which is positively forbidden to clerics and religious. This is never alloWed,. even tl~ough the objects bought are of a religious nature, such as rosaries, crucifixes, and prayer books. Nor may re!ig!ou~s buy real estate with the.intention of~selling it uhimproved as soon as an opportunity arises to sell it at'a higher price. Under this heading one is also forbidden to rent or teas~ property from the owner for the purpose of. immediat.ely subletting it to another party ata h.igher rental, for such a transaction is the equivalent of buying something with the intention of selling it unchanged at a higher price. ~ 3 b. "'Or changed b~t hired help'" We saw above that the Church has always held manual labor in high esteem; and spiritual leaders have ever encour-aged religiousto" employ themselves with such labor ih order to provide for their temporal needs, to avoid idleness.¯ and to make it possible for them to assist the poor and the needy. Furthermore, the Church has always allowed reli-gious to purchase materials in order to change them by their own labor and then to sell such objects at. a profit. Thus the monks of-the,desert supported themselves by wea~ing baskets, making fish nets, and the like. In the Middle Ages 53 AD!kM C~ ELI~IS / o ~ Ret~ieto /or Religious monasteries of both men.ahd ~vomen.frequently supported themselves by manual labor; the monks by cultivating their fields and caring for their herds, and then selling the prod-ucts of field and herd; or .by transforming these products into cheese, butter, wine, bread, or even by distilling.liqueurs such as the famous Chartreuse and benedictine. The nuns were famous for their fancy needle work and for their artistic production of illuminated manuscripts and books, This buying of materials and changing them by the labor of one's own hands may take many forms: grapes" may be bought, and made into Wine; silks and fine materials may be purchased and turned into precious vestments, or ¯ trousseaux. As long ~s the change is brought about by the " labor of the religious themselves, there is no ¥iolatioh of the law forbidding gaiffful trading. But the case is different when materials Which hav~ been rpeulrigchioausse dth.aerme sweolvrekse.d W orh ecnh apnagiedd l abyb ofrii irse tdts feide ltpo, cnfoiat ~b,yg teh"e. materials wfiicfi l~aoe beer~ bo~t~Tbt with a view to their sale at a profit in thei'r changed state, we have an operation which is equivalent to strictly comme~:cial trading since the religious are buying both the materials and the labor involved in making the change. This has b~en the Constant opinion of canonists; an opinion which has been upheld by many decisio.ns of the Holy See. Here are some practical examples of what is forbidden under this head: religious ma.y not buy grapes and hire 6ut-side help to mak~ them into wine; nor may they buy wool, cloth, leather, or other mate.rials, and engag.e hired help to make them into clothing, shoes, and the like with the intention of selling such products at a profit. They may not buy cattle to be pastured on rented land by fiired hell~, to be sold later at~the market price; nor may they rent land to be cultivated by fiired labor and then sell the crops at a JanuarF; 1946 MAY RI~LIGIOUS BUY AND SELLi~ profit. It is not forbidden, however, to. rent land needed to graze a herd which is owned by the religious; nor to buy cattle which will consume the surplus pasturage of land owfied by the religious. In both cases the cattle may be sold later at a just.~price. 4. "'At a higher price than was paid for it" " Here we have the final element which is required to con-stitute gainful trading forbidden to clerics and religious. This elemeni constitutes the very essence of gainful trading --the sale for pro~t. This, however, must be understood rightly. One does not necessarily make a. profit even though he sells an article at a higher price than that which. he paid for it. The ,expefises involved in the transporta-tion, storage, and.conservation of goods, the wages paid to hired, help, and any other ,ex15enses incurred are to be con~ sidered as part of the cost. An increase in the sale price because of such expenses does not constitute a real gain and consequently is not forbidden. This. clause in the, law merely forbids the sale of an article at a higher price than its complete cost, and this is true whether the article is sold unchanged or is sold after having been c.hanged by hired hands. Obvidusly then religious may sell articles and ~oods which they have purchased, provided they do so at the cost price (estimated as above explained). If-no profit is made in the transaction, it does not come under the pro-hibition of the law. This seems to be so evident that nothing more need be said about it. Thus far we have considered the four elements which constitute gainful trading forbidden to clerics and religiqus by canon 142. All"four elements must be present simul-taneoust~ t in order that the act of buying and selling come unde~r the prohibition of the law. If ang single one of them ¯ is lacking, the transaction is not forbidden. Let us now consider the remaining clauses of the canon. 55 AD~I C: ELLIS Re'uieW~for, ReHgio,,s "'Either personall~j or thr6~gh others'" Up to the time of Pope°Benedict XIV there were certain canonists and moralists who held that acleric'or.religibus, though forbidden to engage personally_in gainful trading, might do so through, others by entrustifig his money to a" layman to invest in his.obusifiess or trade. Their argument ran that in such a case the religious or cleric would not be burdened with the cares and worries of such trading.~ In practice, however,, such religious and clerics did not cease to worry about the success or failure of the business or trade in which they had invested their money; and,not infrequently" they were tempted to help the good work.along by taking an active, though perhaps a minor, part in it. H~nce they were distracted and hampered in the exercise of their clerical and religious functions. After pointingout that this had really been prohibited by his predecessors, Benedict XIV solemnly forbade clerics and religious to engage .in gainful trading even t/~rough others. Since his time, therefore, it has been prghibited to clerics and religious to be even part owners of any strictly indust.rial or commercial enterprise, though the busihess or industry was conducted entirely by laymen. "For their own advantage or for that of other~'" ¯ This clause was put into the law by Urban VIII and, emphasized .by Clement IX in,the seventeenth century w.hen missionaries began to engage in gainful trading not for their own benefit but for the support of their missions. In individual cas~s of great rieed the Holy-See gave permis-sion for Such trading in favor of mission work; but at the same time the fact was always emphasized that the law for-bade such trading even for the sake of charity towards others. Hence it should be kept in mind that gainful trading may not be carried on.by clerics or religious, no matter how 56- January/, 1946 MAY RELIGIOUS BUY.AND SELL~? worthy the cause may be. to-which the. profits of such trading are devoted. ¯ In concluding this first part it may be well to call atten-tion to the fact that this legislation binds both religious communities as a~ whole and individual religious with~ respect to their personal property. PART II: SOME MODERN PROBLEMS, IN BUYING AND SELLING Hav!ng anaiyzed the notion of what precisely is for-bidden by the law of the Church with. regard to gainful t.rading on the part. of clerics and religious, let us proceed to apply the law to some probl~erns which a~e peculiar~ to our modern e~onomy. Bookstor,es Most bo~irding schoolg and many day schools conducted by religious have a book store in which textbooks, station-ery, and sundries of various kinds are sold to the students. Originally, and in many cases even today, the primary pur-pose of such a store was not to make money, but rather, to serve the needs and the convenience of the st'udents. Fre-quently enough the Catholic textbooks used in schools can-not be purchased elsewhere. Agai'n, for purposes of dis-cipline and training, it is desirable that uniform stationery be used for class exercises, tests, homework, book reports, and the like. If each pupil purchased his stationery atria different store, such uniformity would be impossible. Hence "the need, or at least the convenience, of.~he school bookstore. What is the actual practice .with regard to such. stores? ,Usually books, stationery, and sundries are bought at. wholesale and sold at retail. ~ When this is done, .we have a perfect example of gainful trading forbidden to religious. The.articles arebought with. the intention of selling them unchanged at~.a higher~ price. As we have said above, the 57 ADAM C, .ELL[S ': ~:-~.: "i~:° 7 ;; ~ RevieW=.[o~ Religid£~s primary purpose" of th~ st,ore.is, not t.o.make profit but to meet the needs and" the convenience of the student body. Still, . the , law is violated unless:the elemeiit.of.profit is :eliminated. "Thismay be.done ifi. 5ne.of two ways : :either sell atcost price,., or. give the profits back to the students. Let us consider each method. " " " " ¯ To sell at.cost price has its .drawbacks. In certain cases the firms publishing school, books :~nsist tha~ a minimum rf.tail pr.ice,be charged. Then too, it is difficult at times to determine. [he exa~t cost of .a Sing!e. article. One must take 'into consideration attendant e.xP.enses--!ight, .heat, kental .ofspace occupied by the bo0kstore;.transportati0n chargds, a juit recompense;f0~dlerki, whether:'theybe extefns whb. work for a salary or students who receive fr~e textbooks and stationery for their services.Then there is the item of ,itoss due to deffi:ioration of goods which' become shoi3worn and must ibe sold.at a bargain, as well 'as books" left over which cannot be returnedto the publishe~,or which, if 'traded in, bring'a lower price than that originally paid: All these itemsshould be taken into consideratioh when "the c'o~t price"is put upon books and stationery. , . ¯ ~A far simpler arid more satisfactory solution of the problem may be found by returning the profits to the stu-dents- giving them something to which they are not entitled by reason of their tuition fees. Thus the profits may be used to supply the library with extra books and magazines which normally v~ould not be purchased; to provide extra lectures and performances of both a literary and entertaining character; to give the Students extra recrea- ~.tional facilities:' for example, additional recreation Or lounge rooms, or needed athletic equipment.: In this way the profits are, returned to .th~ students, whose purchases have created them. Thereligious do not ieceive any of thd profits; hence the law of the Chuieh is observed. 58 danuarg, 1946 MAY RELIGIOUS BUY AND SELL? A thirdsolution would be to turn the bookstore.over to the students: cooperative, if there be one in the school., Lunchrooms or Cafeterias ,Here again the motive for conducting these enterprises in a school is not primarily to make money but to promote discipline and to meet theconvenience of the student body. These activities differ from running a book store inasmuch as materials are purchased and changed before being sold at a higher price. If this change is effected by the religious themselves, they may retain any resulting profits. Usually, however, ~such changes as cooking .food, preparation of lunches, making sandwiches, and so forth are effected by hired help, wl~ether by outsiders or by part-time student help, and then the operation comes within the prohibition ~of the Code. Here again the solution of the problem lies~ . either in selling meals and lunches at cost price, which'is difficult to estimate, or in returning the profits to the stu~ dents as suggested above in regard to bookstores. The same . is .to be s~id with regard to profits derived from the sale of. candy,., ice-cream, and other edibles which are sold ¯ unchanged in lunchrooms and cafeterias. Gift Shops in Hospitals and Sanitaria Within recent years gift~ shops have made t.heir appear-ance in hospitals and sanitaria. One purpose of such shops~ is to supply visitors with a convenient opportunity to ~pur-chase a forgotten gift for the patient they are about to visit. No doubt they are also patronized by nurses and patients. .They have all the appea'rances of sale for profit that any other store has; and the pro.fits may not be kept by the reli-gious who conduct the hospitals. The best solution of the prOblem perhaps would be to rent out the concession to a lhy person who would take both the risks and th~ profits in return for a reas.onable.rental charge. If no ~uch person o 59 ADAM C. ELLIS ~ , Reoiew for ReligioUs. "can be found, the profits should be turned back to the pur-chasers ~in ~ome Shape' or form. Since these are, casual visi-" 'tors for the most part, this may be difficult. A certain amount might be used to make the visitors' "waiting rooms .m.ore comfortable; the rest might be devoted to increased :and ~improxied recreational facilities forconvalescent pa-tients. Sale of Religious Articles " Under normal circumstances there is no reason for reli-gious to engage in the sale of rel~gio.us articles. On special. occasions, however, such as parish missions and school 9r alumni retreats, it may be desirable too have .such good.s available for purchase. Usually,, they are obtained from a general supply house at wholesale prices with the p~ivilege of returning what has not been disposed of. Each indi- ¯ vidual article is marked with the retail p, rice. Here again we have a clear case.of buying and selling forbidden by the Church to clerics and religious. The only proper, way to ~onduct such sales is to turn over the entire transaction a ~church or school society, and allow it to keep the ~rofits. Neither clerics nor religious may share in them. Sisters who ~upply the needs of a. First Communion class (veils, wreaths, prayer books, rosaries, and similar objects) should 'sell. them to the c~ildren at cost price. "In country parishes pious Catholics who wish to obtain religious articles frequently ask the priest or the Sisters to procure them. In this case there is no buying at wholesale and selling ~it ret,ail, since there.is question usually of a single article a rosary, a crucifix, a prayer-book. T-he Sisters may purchase such an article from a Catholic supply hbuse and charge the retail price. The small, discount give.n single article may be considered as ~ gift to the religious: as a matter" of fact, it will .scarcely compensate them for carriage charges and'stamps" expended. 60 J~_r~uarg, 1946 ]~tAY RELIGIOUS BUY AND SELL.7 ¯ i . Articles Made in Trade and Industrial SChools " The modern religigus apostolate includes trade schools f6r poor boys and industrialschools for poor girls. In these schools boys are taught a trade, girls are instructed in'needle~ wc;rk and domestic science. Their first efforts will hardly ~.find purchasers; bu~ they learn rapidly, and articles, and goodsmade by them are sold by the institutio~i. Here we seem. tohave a form of industrg--materials are bought and ¯ changed by outside help. IS' it forbidden to sell such goods at a profit? No, it is not. First of all, the principal pur-pose of such schools is to instruct the pupils, to teach them an art Ora trade; and this cannot be done without practical work. It is not the primary intention, therefore, to sell the materials purchased ~nd changed by hired help at a higher price.,. Secondly, the proceeds do not go directly anti,exclu-sively .to the religious in charge,of the school, but are used to provide board and lodging for the pupils and fre-quently to pay the salaries of experienced lay persons-~ who act as instructors. ~rh~tever surplus may be left over should, be shared With the pupils who are entitled to some recompense for their labors. A final consideration which keeps the transaction from coming under the ban of.ga.inful trading is the fact that, at Ieast in a boarding institution, these pup!Is are not, strictly speakihg, hired help; they,may be considered as part of the religious family. . Printing and Publishing Books A religious or cleric is always allowed to print (or have p~inted) and sell at a profit whatever he has, written himself (Holy Office, June.10, 1846). Here he is not buying anything,, but he himself supplies the object which is changed and sold--his own literary composition. B.ut,. a religious is not allow.ed tO buy.books written and published by others and Sell them at a profit. This latter practice is clearly forbidden by the law. 61 ADAM C[ ELLIS '. ' '.: - ,~" ? ' ~. Ret~ieto for Religio~s M~g religious own and operate a prin, ting.pres~?. ( 1 ) If the religious run the press themselves and do all. the work, they may printand still not only books and writings of the m~mbers of their institute, but .also books written bY others who are not members. (2) If the religious merely. own-and direct the press and the' work is done by hired help, they" mayprint all :works w~itten.l~y members of their institute but nothing else unless they.have a special indult from the H61y See: nor may 'they engage in ordinary com-mercial printing. -In this second case,, they. may print reli-gious reviews, magazines, .journals,other. forms of xeligious literature destined for the spread, of the faith, and school ¯ books which cannot be obtained elsewhere--provided that ¯ no profit is made. Of coursea reasonable amount of income may be taken gradually to pay for .installation, "amortiza-tion of debt, .superintendence, and so forth. Rental.6f Space ~or Vending Machines Many institutiong, hospitals' especially, find it very conv